Back to All News
12 Things You Didn't Know About Waffles Mochi
Entertainment
19 March 2021
Global
How do you get kids excited about cooking? Add a dash of star power (celebrity guests like Common, Jack Black, Rashida Jones, Tan France and Zach Galifianakis), a cup of exciting locales (Italy, Japan, Peru, South Korea and Uganda), mix in a familiar face as the neighborhood supermarket owner (Michelle Obama) and you've got our new Netflix series Waffles Mochi from Higher Ground Productions. The show centers on curious puppet pals Waffles and Mochi as they travel the world exploring the wonders of food and culture while learning how to cook with fresh ingredients. To celebrate the premiere, here are 12 things you might not know from the making of this one-of-a-kind show.
For star and executive producer Michelle Obama, Waffles Mochi gave her the chance to extend the work she did as First Lady to support children's health.
Partnership for a Healthier America, a nonprofit organization created in conjunction with Mrs. Obama's Let's Move! effort, will also run an impact campaign aimed at meaningfully shifting our food culture. Leveraging themes from Waffles Mochi, they will launch programs with retailers, food banks, and other entities across the U.S. food system to help children and parents learn to have fun and engage with food and ingredients - as they also become healthier.
Series creators Erika Thormahlen and Jeremy Konner have known each other since their early 20s. After a career as an actress, Thormahlen went on to become an early childhood educator while Konner pursued a career in Hollywood and co-created the hit comedy series Drunk History. The series marks the culmination of a 15-year-long dream for the longtime friends, whose fields of expertise (and mutual love of food) created the perfect combination of wit and whimsy.
Konner is a close family friend of Elinor Ochs, a professor of Anthropology at UCLA who conducted studies with families and found that some of the most stressful moments of their day surrounded mealtimes. It was her research that served as inspiration for Konner and Thormahlen to seek ways to alleviate the stresses around everyday negotiations between parents and their kids about food and turn the conversations into a shared experience that would excite everyone.
Head puppeteer Michelle Zamora is self-taught and began building her own puppets while she was a student at Cal State Los Angeles. Before she became the CEO of her own company, Viva la Puppet, in 2014, Zamora was one of the few women of color coming up in the world of professional puppeteering. Diversity now plays a big part in every job she takes on through her company.
While Waffles and Mochi were built by Swazzle, Michelle Zamora's Viva la Puppet was responsible for building Steve the Mop, Busy, and Shelfie. Zamora also had a hand in building Waffles's mouth and palate, which was customized with a special opening in the back that allowed Waffles to swallow actual food without making a mess-unlike Cookie Monster's iconic crumbs that go flying everywhere.
KCRW's Market Report correspondent Gillian Ferguson was a food researcher on the show. Together with director Alex Braverman, Ferguson was responsible for finding the various people and locales from around the world that are featured in each episode.
Any time Waffles tasted a new dish (like Chef Massimo's tortellini!), Michelle Zamora was simultaneously spoonfed bites so she could experience the flavors in real time, bringing an authentic sense of wonder and delight to Waffles's reaction.
There are at least nine nationalities represented among the staff at Orient Experience, Chef Hamed Ahmadi's restaurant in Venice: Afghan, Syrian, Bangladeshi, Nigerian, Albanian, Pakistani, Italian, Turkish, and Guinean. Not only is the entire restaurant staffed by refugees, but everyone is encouraged to bring a flavor or a dish from their home country.
The omurice segment in the egg episode was inspired by a scene from the 1985 film Tampopo.
Chef Mashama Bailey's restaurant, The Grey, was formerly a Greyhound bus terminal.
Konner's son, George, makes an appearance at the pickle workshop in episode 4. He also serendipitously became the voice of Intercommy, which they recorded in a closet at home due to COVID-19.
Most recent headlines
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
22/12/2025
Monday 22 December 2025
Sky extends PGA TOUR partnership until 2029, as Sky Spo...
22/12/2025
Back to All News
Global Anime Hits and New Releases Take Center Stage at Jump Festa 2026
Entertainment
22 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to clipboar...
22/12/2025
Siobh n McSweeney, Rory McIlroy, Elon Musk, Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin, Ivan Yates and Traitor Paudie Moloney lead new characters for Callan Kicks the Year 2...
22/12/2025
Winner announced in the picturesque surroundings of Wicklow's Avondale Tower and Treetop Walk
Andrew Trimble wins the show in his first series as coach
Th...
22/12/2025
The 2025 winners have been announced today, Sunday 21 December, for Ireland's largest choral competition Choirs for Christmas hosted by RT lyric fm.
Ove...
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
Back to All News
