Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is putting his cooking skills to the test with celebrity chefs to motivate Americans to eat healthy.
He launched “The Real Food Show,†a new cooking series, on July 30 to help translate the new Dietary Guidelines into easy, affordable meals Americans can prepare at home, he said in an exclusive interview with USA Today.
An evangelist of fermented food, he said the recipes will feature kimchi, sauerkraut and yogurt.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to USA Today White House correspondent Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy on July 29 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Building in Washington.
He also talked about cooking with the family as an antidote to loneliness; his own eating habits ("I'll eat anything. I don't have a gag reflex"); his status as a weight loss guru among members of the Trump Cabinet; and a culinary habit his wife banned while going out to dinner.
The new dietary guidelines, unveiled in January, prioritize protein at every meal, full-fat dairy, vegetables, fruits and whole grains. It was accompanied by the slogan "Eat Real Food."
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“When we published the dietary guidelines, there was immediately sort of a good reaction, but also a little trepidation from the public and from critics saying that this food is a lot more expensive than the ultra-processed food that we've been eating,†Kennedy said ahead of the show. “And that's not true."
New dietary guidelines released Jan. 7 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
The program will showcase how to prepare healthy meals for less than $5 a serving whenever possible, according to HHS.
The series will be broadcast online. The first couple of episodes will feature chefs Andrew Gruel and Robert Irvine. The first episode with Gruel will feature a recipe for crispy salmon cakes with apple, white bean and green salad.
Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again movement promised to combat chronic childhood diseases by reducing environmental toxins, ultra-processed foods and "overmedicalization."
‘Lost art’?
Kennedy said the show can teach people it can be cheaper and healthier to cook at home.
“Fast food is not less expensive,'' he said. ''That meal costs $12 to $14. People can eat a lot cheaper at home and a lot better food. But many Americans have forgotten how to cook. It's becoming a lost art.â€
Kennedy said part of the HHS Department’s job will be “reintroducing†Americans to cooking.
More than half of all men and almost three-quarters of women regularly cook at home, according to a 2023 study in the peer-reviewed journal Current Developments in Nutrition from the American Society for Nutrition.
Fighting isolation
Kennedy said cooking is not just a way to get good nutrition but also a way to fight “an epidemic of isolation in this country,†he said.
Addiction, he said, is a disease of isolation and disconnection.
“And one of the ways that we can start connecting people again is through that sacred ritual of cooking again, of coming together with your family and creating something that's beautiful, that's useful, and sitting down with them and enjoying that,†he said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cooks with Chef Andrew Gruel for an episode of The Real Food Show.
In the family
The HHS secretary was quick to credit his wife, actor Cheryl Hines, as the better cook in their household.
When they have company or when the kids come home, Hines takes over the skillets.
“She loves cooking and she loves baking,†he said. “She's a very, very good cook.â€
His repertoire consists of eggs, bacon, cheeseburgers and hamburgers.
“I can cook a really good omelet,†Kennedy said, adding he learned it from Gruel. “And then my specialty would be steaks and meat and fish.â€
He encountered his fair share of kitchen disasters. "I've left stuff cooking in the oven and forgotten about it and burned it to a crisp," he said, laughing.
Fan of fermentation
Kennedy, an aficionado of fermented foods, would take his own sauerkraut to restaurants, he said. “I used to carry it with me, but I got too many complaints.â€
Asked if the complaints came from fellow diners, Kennedy said: “My wife, mainly. It's hard to carry without spilling it. And when you spill it, it causes other problems.â€
He also does not make his own. “I use store-bought sauerkraut,†he said.
It’s not just Kennedy who is on the “meats and ferments†diet. Other followers, he said, include Vice President JD Vance, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. He said they all lost weight on the diet.
He’ll eat anything
Asked about the most exotic food he’s eaten, Kennedy said, “I will literally eat anything because I don't have a gag reflex.â€
“I love experimenting with foods,†he added.
Though he might be a carnivore diet enthusiast, he also experimented with being on a vegan diet. His wife, he joked, would say it lasted all of 24 hours.
Kennedy also confessed he has a weakness for desserts.
"I like key lime pie and I like ice cream and I like chocolate," he said. "My Achilles' heel is desserts."
