![]() ![]() Waffles’ reaction to eating something spicy was like “woah that was cool,” so presenting things to kids in a positive way as opposed to telling them they won’t like it. So many of us grew up in households where kids were catered to separately. My episode is one of the riskiest ones because what do kids complain about the most? “What are those green things?” or “that’s too spicy.” Kids can eat the same things as us. Waffles + Mochi does a really good job at presenting all of these foods from all over the world with no value judgment. What’s the most important part of educating kids on food and cooking for you? We are the ones by choice or by force the backbone of agriculture in this country which is important for kids and BIPOC kids, in general, to see themselves reflected. You have me, Michael, Michelle Obama, Samin, it isn’t rejected by kids of color because it’s not them. A lot of the things kids are learning, like just seeing Michelle Obama instead of Alice Waters, they can see themselves places. I think that’s one of the most important things-there’s been a disservice done to the local organic movement in how they framed it. I had no idea food would be so important and integral to our society….I feel like it’s something that needs to be less elitist, taking the idea of healthy eating, local eating, out of the elitist space….healthy nutritious food made from scratch is for everybody, not just people with a lot of money. How do you feel shows and spaces like Waffles + Mochi benefit the youth involved? The way we could play with it on the show was a super fun experience. I’ve messed around with putting tons of different things into them. Tomato and basil isn’t traditional in pani puri, but in general they’re one of my favorites. I used a lot of recipes before I could look at a shelf of whole spices and know what I wanted to do with them. It’s hard for me to do simple recipes because it’s always a little bit of this and that. We used to have jars of spices in the restaurant and people thought they were decor, but no, we used all of them. There’s an Indian saying “With the right masala you can even make rocks taste good.” Everything I do is spices and herbs. My cooking without spices and herbs would be nothing, that’s the backbone. What role do spices play in your cooking? Herbs are the leaves and stems before the seeds and flowers appear. Spices can be all kinds of different seeds. Not all spices are like that cinnamon comes from the bark of a tree. Preeti Mistry: Cilantro: The leaves and stems are an herb, and when it goes to seed and flower the green seeds are then dried and are coriander. For those of us who haven’t seen the show yet or simply don’t know, can you explain the difference between herbs and spices? To dive deeper into the importance of cooking with kids and to dive deeper into the Waffles + Mochi experience, I chatted with chef Preeti Mistry. ![]() Though I can’t imagine what it would’ve done for my self-esteem to see so many people of color on the screen teaching me as a little one. Watching Waffles + Mochi took me back to turning on Rachel Ray’s 30-Minute Meals as a kid. I remember chomping down lamb chops at family dinners at grandma’s house, or a big bowl of spaghetti when my mom would spend Sundays stirring homemade tomato sauce in a big pot. I would eat any and everything my parents put in front of me for the most part. As a kid, I remember my palate being endless. ![]() I had always considered myself a foodie, yet I didn’t even know the legitimate difference between an herb and a spice. After watching the episode, I was surprised at how much I had learned. Preeti grew up a second-generation Indian-born in London, raised across the U.S. Obama appears in each episode with a new mission or task for the endearing puppets and rewards them with a new badge representative of a culinary experience at the end of each episode. The kid’s cooking show features an adorable mochi puppet accompanied by another puppet with frozen waffles for ears the pair travel around the world learning about and gathering ingredients to take back to a grocery store run by none other than Michelle Obama. ![]() Now in a new role, on the Netflix cooking show Waffles + Mochi, Preeti shares a delicious recipe for homemade pani puri filled with fresh herbs from the garden in an episode. As an Oakland native, I was familiar with Preeti Mistry as the James Beard-nominated chef behind Juhu Beach Club. ![]()
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