Special Reports

by Frank Vascellaro and Amelia Santaniello
(WCCO) Doctors say it often: Americans don't have good eating habits and our children aren't getting proper nutrition. But a world famous chef is also sounding the alarm about healthier choices.

Wolfgang Puck says it's actually easy to get children to eat better. He showed the Frank Vascellaro and Amelia Santaniello's family how when he visited the Twin Cities last week.

Wolfgang Puck is always in motion. He has a lot of energy and a dynamic personality.

Puck greeted every guest at 2021 recently. He opened the restaurant in inside the big, silver area jutting out from the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

Puck's enthusiasm combined with a passion for food helped him develop a multi-million dollar network of restaurants and food related businesses. So, it's surprising to hear him encouraging people not to dine out.

"I really believe that's the most important thing these days is that families stay at home and feed their kids the right way," said Puck. "You go to schools, they have you know like junk food all over the place, there are all these restaurants out there with tons of unhealthy food. So, I think if we want to do anything really good for our family, for our children especially, is feed them nutritional, good food and get them interested in food. "

That's why Puck wanted to use our children to show how easy it is to get young ones involved in the kitchen.

Nine-year-old Sam and 6-year-old twins Joe and Francesca were eager to help.

"We're going to stir fry some chicken with some rice and serve them like tacos in lettuce cups so that way we can roll them together and eat them," Puck told the children.

It sounded great, but we got off to tough start with the hoi sin sauce.

"Taste it, its very strong," said Puck. "It's made with soy beans."

"Yuck," responded Francesca.

"But you will see when we finish the dish its going to taste good," Puck quickly snapped back.

When Puck asked Francesca if she wanted a glass of wine everyone laughed.

Puck began cooking the chicken in some peanut oil because that oil can handle high heat. He added some corn starch to thicken the sauce. He added some salt and pepper, and the children added some curiosity.

"What school did you go to?" Francesca asked him.

"I went to school in Austria and I was born in Austria and I went to school there until I was 14 years old," Puck told her. "And then I started to cook and then I went to France and I learned a lot about cooking in France and then I came to America."

Puck doesn't shy away about the problems he sees with the way food is produced in America.

"I think it's ridiculous that farmers who grow corn for ethanol get subsidized and farmers who grow vegetables for our kids and for us don't make any money," he said.

After some garlic and red pepper, we were almost done.

Sam added rice to the lettuce cups and some carrots too.

"Excellent job Sam," said the always encouraging chef.

Now it was time for the real test. Would our children like the taste?

Joe responded with a resounding, "great".

"Really good," added Sam.

Francesca's mouth was full.

"See it's good. Good simple and easy and healthy for you," said Puck.

"That why we have to be careful and cook at home. I shouldn't say you know because we run a restaurant but not everyday you go to a restaurant. So you can cook at home, make really healthy food and make it taste good," declared the world famous chef.

While Puck wants people to stay home and learn to cook healthier meals as a family, he says if you do go out in the Twin Cities these days, you have good choices.

"I think Minneapolis is really great now. It's better than ever. You have so many talented, young American chefs who are here and who produce fantastic foods. So, I think it's an exciting city," he said.

And the children were pretty excited too. Wolfgang Puck taught them something, fed them something good and put a smile on their face.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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