Michelle Obama in the educational program -

Copyright Adam Rose / Netflix

  • This Tuesday, Netflix put online a new cooking show called "Gaufrette et Mochi".

  • Aimed at children, this is an educational program launched by Michelle Obama around food and cooking.

If we say "Michelle Obama", "talking wafer" and "magic cart", you answer us "Kamoulox"?

It is in fact

Gaufrette et Mochi

("Waffle and Mochi" in English), a new program available since Tuesday on Netflix, produced and partly presented by the former First Lady of the United States.

The concept ?

An educational program for children (but nothing prevents you to take a look too), around food and cooking.

Supported by two adorable little puppets, Michelle Obama tries to make potatoes or tomatoes “cool”, and especially to teach the adults of tomorrow to eat well.

And here's how she does it.

A barred universe

“Listen to your vegetables and eat your parents”.

From the credits, the tone is set, with humor and absurdity as the common thread of the ten episodes around water, rice or even tomatoes.

The first begins in a freezer, where two very endearing creatures live: Gaufrette (half waffle half yeti with cute little red boots), and Mochi (a small Japanese dessert made from rice dough).

Stuck in "a world where ice cream never melts, where dreams too are numbed by the cold", the two puppets would like to become "great cooks".

But it's not easy to simmer good meals with ice cubes… Their destiny changes when the van arrives from a grocery store, that of “Madame O”, where there is “real fresh food”.

A wonderful place where our two little friends will venture out.

Hired in the grocery store (obviously on a voluntary basis), Gaufrette and Mochi set off to discover the wonderful powers of fruits and vegetables, and travel the world aboard a "magic-caddy".

They learn how to make miso with a Japanese family, or try to grow a potato on Mars.

Adventures interspersed with slightly perched sequences, like when a Sia tomato (recognizable by its two-tone hair) sings with passion "I am a fruit, do not judge me too quickly".

Or when Tan France, stylist of the

Queer Eye

show

(also on Netflix), embarks on a makeover of a potato.

Not sure that the little ones perceive the many cultural references, but that at least has the merit of multiplying the formats and giving a hellish pace to all the episodes.

Enough to hold the attention of children (and older ones for that matter).

A good dose of pedagogy

Behind this crazy universe, of course, hides an educational aim.

If Gaufrette seems to be high on acid while tasting a cherry tomato, the puppet discovers above all that this fruit has nearly 10,000 varieties, and learns to cook it while having fun.

To do this, the two little friends set off to meet farmers, cooks and chefs all over the world, who reveal to them the history of food and their cooking secrets.

They also discover the role of taste buds and learn to distinguish flavors, even going so far as to approach that of “umami”, a Japanese term for the subtle 5th flavor.

But that's not all.

Each cooking lesson also contains a larger lesson about life.

With salt for example.

Do not panic, we do not immerse Gaufrette and Mochi in the face of the risks of cardiovascular disease or high blood pressure, but we explain to them the need for moderation, on a plate and on a daily basis.

And this is also the role of Michelle Obama, which we discover in short sequences within the episodes.

Owner of the grocery store, "Madame O" cultivates a vegetable garden on the roof, where she gives her good advice to apprentice cooks.

If she is stepping out of her role as former First Lady, it is impossible not to see it as an extension of her political battles, in particular her fight against childhood obesity.

Here she tackles with pedagogy frozen products and junk food, while distilling a grain of madness.

Rather successful bet for Michelle Obama and Netflix. 

Gaufrette et Mochi

should appeal to young and old, and teach them how to eat well while having fun.

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