Dr Michelle Dickinson Launches 2nd Season Of Show To Help Inspire Kiwi Families To Learn The Science Of Eating Healthy

New Zealand has the third highest adult obesity rate in the OECD, and our rates continue to increase. One in ten children are currently obese in New Zealand and research shows that children struggling with obesity are more likely to suffer health challenges as adults.

Using her love of science to try and help to counter this trend, Dr Michelle Dickinson is bringing back a second season of her hit TV show Kitchen Science, which launches on TVNZ on Demand on 1st March 2020.

With increasingly busy lives, it’s easy for New Zealanders to turn to the consumption of convenience and take-away foods, which in turn can create a disconnect of what goes into the foods that we are actually eating.

Michelle will teach families how to cook their favourite recipe making a note of foods that are high in saturated fats or sugars and low in high-quality proteins – as well as offering alternatives to help with a healthy lifestyle.

Whether it’s using pressure to create enough steam to pop corn kernels, making the perfect tomato ketchup with the help of microorganisms, showing how the science of bubbles makes the fluffiest pancakes, making an emulsion for mayonnaise or whipping up the avocado perfect dip using antioxidants – Kitchen Science has it all.

“Kitchen Science is all about encouraging young viewers to turn their own home into a laboratory, and to ignite their curiosity about STEM education. Everyone should have access to learning about science and how things work, which is why we created this series with accessibility in mind,” says Nanogirl Labs’ Dr. Michelle Dickinson.

“Our episodes don’t require any fancy science equipment, just basic kitchen utensils, a desire to have fun and a healthy appetite! Our Kitchen Science fans are in for plenty of fun as we take ingredients you can find in your kitchen, and unravel some interesting facts that might surprise people and help us look at food in a whole new way.”

The series features 18 brand-new kitchen experiments for kids and the whole whānau to enjoy, including:

• Fermented ketchup – a fun way to make your own tomato ketchup using bacteria from yoghurt. The best part of this is needing to ‘burp’ the gas from the ketchup at the end!
• Crunchy chicken nuggets – chicken nuggets get a bad rap as they often contain low quality protein, fillers and are deep fried. In kitchen science we make the tastiest, crunchiest chicken nuggets using chicken breast and the science behind crunch for a healthier version.
• Sausage Rolls – to make the perfect sausage roll you need to make the perfect pastry. Puff pastry is made by layering butter between the dough to make an engineered lattice structure! Controlling the quality of sausage and amount of butter used allows you to make a healthier version of this family friendly snack.
• Fluffy – while a fluffy may be a café treat – how do you make milk so fluffy? The secret is bubbles and milk proteins and this recipe shows you how to make your own with a coffee plunger and a bit of elbow grease! A great way to burn some energy before making your own milky drink at home.

Kitchen Science is written and hosted by Dr. Michelle Dickinson from Nanogirl Labs and produced by Greenstone television with funding from NZ of Air for HeiHei on TVNZ on Demand.

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