Waffles & Mochi: Michelle Obama announces new Netflix cooking show

Michelle Obama has announced she is taking her campaign to ensure children are eating their vegetables to Netflix, in a new show called Waffles & Mochi.

The former first lady posted a promotional image for the new cooking show – due to air on 16 March – on social media, which shows her wearing an apron alongside a number of soft toys, which are presumably her supporting cast.

"I'm excited for families and children everywhere to join us on our adventures as we discover, cook, and eat delicious food from all over the world," Obama said.

She added that she would be working alongside the Partnership for A Healthier America "to help kids build healthy habits and help families in need cook with fresh ingredients together at home".

Obama has a prolific background in championing health eating among children.

The former First Lady's public health campaign, Let's Move, is widely viewed as among her most impactful initiatives during her time in the White House.

One of the major focuses of this campaign was improving school lunches in America, with the Obama administration's Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010 banning schools from advertising snacks high in fat and sugar.

Changes such as these were accompanied by PR-friendly stunts to promote exercise, such as pushup competitions with Ellen DeGeneres, in addition to teaming up with corporations such as Walmart and Subway.

While such a strategy unsurprisingly drew initial criticism, by 2016 Vox was reporting that "observers who previously worried about Obama’s food industry partnerships now called her advocacy 'brilliant', 'unprecedented', and a 'godsend'".

Unsurprisingly, however, Republicans threw their toys from the pram, having previously described these reforms as an egregious example of the "nanny state".

While notorious fast-food fan Donald Trump looked to roll back Obama's hard-fought school lunch rules in 2020 – proposing that schools should be able serve more pizzas and meat – it appears the new administration may be more sympathetic to her cause.

Last week, Obama announced on Instagram that the new first lady, Jill Biden, had sent her a surprise "care package" of "fresh veggies from the White House Kitchen Garden", which she created in 2009.

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