In a shop, on a small side street in Kyoto, a father, his gaze focused and hands steady, teaches his son how to make onigiri.
“Make a triangle. Squeeze. Squeeze. Squeeze and roll,” he says. As the son, his head shaved like his father’s, squeezes the rice together, a small and subtle smile drapes across the father’s face. It could be any dish, in any country, at any moment in time. The act is universal, and the emotion is immediately recognizable: The father is proud and delighted; he is doing what he loves, with his son.
The scene is from an episode of “Waffles + Mochi,” a new food show for kids from Netflix and Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground. The message of the show, visualized through cartoon and travel, is that children should learn not only what to eat, but how to eat. Each episode is an exploration of the taste and texture of a single ingredient, such as a tomato or a mushroom.