On August 13, 2026, the 2nd episode of The Real Food Show hosted by HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr featured Chef Geoffrey Zakarian.
Geoffrey Zakarian was born July 25, 1959 in Worcester, Massachusetts. He has a brother and a sister. His father is of Armenian descent and his mother is of Polish descent.
Geoffrey attended Burncoat High School, graduating in 1977. He then went to Worcester State University earning a degree in economics. From there he traveled to France which is where he decided to become a chef.
In 1983, Geoffrey earned an associate degree from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. He then apprenticed under Chef Daniel Boulud at Le Cirque for free. While at Le Cirque, he earned the title Chef de Cuisine under Chef Alain Sailhac. He held this title from 1982 to 1897. In summer, when Le Cirque was closed, he worked at places such as Au Quai des Ormes in Paris, Aubèrge de l’Ill in Alsace, The Dorchester in London, Le Chantecler with Jacques Maximin in Nice, and Pierre Orsay in Lyon. In 1987, Geoffrey went with Chef Sailhac to the 21 Club.
In 1989/1990, Geoffrey was named executive chef at 44 with business partner Ian Schrager, in the Royalton Hotel, Manhattan, New York. By 2001, food critic William Grimes of The New York Times wrote that Geoffrey was the reason that 44 in the Royalton Hotel was always a lot better than it needed to be.
In 1996, Geoffrey moved to Old Navy's coffee bar and coffee cart division. He then went, in partnership with Ian Schrager, to the Blue Door in the Delano Hotel, in Miami Beach, Florida. By 1998, he was executive chef at Patroon in Manhattan, New York where the restaurant earned 3 stars from The New York Times food critic Ruth Reichi.
By the early 2000's, Geoffrey owned 2 restaurants, Town (located in the Chambers Hotel, Manhattan, New York opened 2001, closed in 2009) and Country (located in the James New York near Madison Square Park, New York, New York opened in 2005, closed in 2008) in Manhattan, New York with both earning 3 stars from The New York Times food critics and Country earning a Michelin Star.
After 2009, Geoffrey moved on to a consulting role at the Water Club in Atlantic City as well as executive chef at the Lamb's Club in New York City, New York.
In 2006, Geoffrey published his first cookbook, containing 150 recipes, called one of the best of 2006 by The New York Times columnist Amanda Hesser.
In addition to his duties at both the Water Club and Lamb's Club, Geoffrey is also chairman of the New York City Harvest Food Council, established around 1980 by the first executive director Helen verDuin Palit. Geoffrey has been involved with this organization since 2014 and his daughters got involved in 2020 helping to start a Junior Food Council and co-host the annual Winter Family Carnival. This council is a food rescue organization. Their goal is to fight hunger in New York City. Their mission statement says:
City Harvest exists to end hunger in communities throughout New York City. We do this through food rescue and distribution, education, and other practical, innovative solutions.
In 2015, Geoffrey considered a new restaurant which he planned to call The National in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC; however, he fundamentally disagrees with Trump's comments about illegal aliens. He withdrew from the already signed agreement, Trump sued him in 2015 for breach of contract and they settled out of court in April 2017.
Geoffrey has been married twice. The first time he married Heather Karaman and that marriage lasted about 10 years. In 2005, Geoffrey married Margaret Anne Williams in New York, they have 3 children.
In 2016, Geoffrey and his wife, Margaret, launched a line of kitchen products called Zakarian Pro for Home with over 100 items for home kitchen. He has also launched the Zakarian Collection, a line of food products with premium ingredients and distinct flavors.
Geoffrey describes his food style as dynamic American (aka modern with French cuisine roots).
Geoffrey hosts his own website Zakarian and publishes a free monthly newsletter, called Stirring the Pot, (subscribe here) with recipes, cooking tips, and more. Some of the recipes from the newsletter are available online at his website.
And, of course, there's plenty of shopping at Zakarian as well covering original food, cookware, accessories, food & wine, cookbooks, Geoffrey's favorites, and wholesale. Be aware, the "shop" portion of his website links you to a 3rd party seller like amazon or QVC.
Geoffrey's top recipes (as determined by Food Network) are available on YouTube and contains 91 videos so far. His top 30 recipes are available in one YouTube video (below):
00:03 - Everything But the Kitchen Sink Pizza
05:29 - Roasted Split Chicken with Dill Salsa Verde
11:20 - Halibut en Papillote
15:15 - Shortbread-Crusted Pork Milanese
22:01 - Spicy Eggs in Purgatory
27:26 - Iron Chef Grilled Cheese
30:25 - Cream-less Mushroom Soup
36:20 - Beef Bourguignon full French Bistro
44:19- Fusilli with Sausage and Oyster
47:38 - Beef Stroganoff
50:28 - Prosciutto-Wrapped Pork Loin
51:28 - Viola’s Coffee Cake
56:21 - Cavatappi with Sausage, Kale and Mushrooms
1:00:16 - Iron Chef Spicy Shrimp Cocktail
1:04:35 - Bucatini al Limone
1:05:26 - Hachis Parmentier
1:13:55 - Bacon, Onion and Cheese Tart
1:20:02 - Chicken Paillard
1:25:57 - Linguini with Clams
1:31:50 - Devilish Egg Salad
1:42:21 - Grilled Cowboy Rib-Eye Steak
1:46:07 - Pan-Roasted Filet Mignon
1:51:20 - Italian Deli-Style French Bread Pizza
1:55:25 - Upstate-Style Roast Beef Sandwich
2:02:02 - Egg Foo Young
2:05:14 - Pasta Salad with Tomatoes and Cucumbers
2:10:36 - Pork Shoulder Pot Roast
2:18:55 - Bucatini Carbonara
2:23:52 - Mother’s Shepherd’s Pie
2:29:58 - Classic French Omelette (this is the same recipe from The Real Food Show)
you all want to be in the kitchen creating something that you can eat
because it's really soulful, and it's actually spiritual.
So, I just love this, and
I think if you just follow these simple guidelines,
this is the way back to health for our kids and for our future.
- Chef Geoffrey Zakarian
In Episode 2 of the Real Food Show Secretary Kennedy and Chef Geoffrey Zakarian (Chef) will be making French-style Gruyere cheese omelet with a very acidic Bibb lettuce (also called butter lettuce) salad with shallot and chives. The version of the recipe shown in the video will serve 1-2 people. The full recipe (below) serves 4 people.
The video is divided into 14 chapters (timestamp is included so you can go straight to that chapter in the video for more clarification):
0:00 - Intro
In this Chapter, Secretary Kennedy reminds us that the food pyramid has flipped and the Trump Administration is working to put the new food pyramid back in the center of the American food plate. He then introduces Chef Geoff (see bio above for greater detail) and announces they are currently in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. He mentions Chef's restaurants, cooking shows, and books (also discussed above in greater detail).
1:32 - The Incredible Egg
In this Chapter, Chef mentioned that once eggs were the best thing you can eat, then they became bad, now they're great again. Chef points out that eggs contain Vitamins A, D, & K, along with fat and protein that we need in our diet. The eggs Chef is using are regenerative and pasture raised eggs (meaning the chickens are raised outside in the pasture where they eat bugs, ruminants, etc. in addition to their feed) which makes them slightly more expensive. Chef points out that pasture raised eggs have a richer, bright, deep, orange, yolk.
2:30 - The French Omelet
Chef explains the omelet is called "French" because of the technique he will be using to prepare and cook it. Chef points out that the old breakfast, bacon and eggs, was actually a great breakfast. This meal will take us back to original food, the way we used to eat before cereal and bread hit the table.
3:23 - Let's Crack Some Eggs!
At this point Chef assigns Secretary Kennedy the task of cracking the eggs. He is to crack 2 whole eggs and add 1 additional egg yolk to the bowl. Secretary Kennedy notes the size disparity in the eggs and Chef explains that really good farm eggs are not perfectly sized and that eggs used for cooking are usually sized as large, especially for baking. Chef also explained that eggs can be baked, roasted, fried, poached, or boiled. Chef said the first thing he teaches children to cook is eggs since they can be for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. When you whisk your eggs, use a fork because you don't want a lot of air incorporated into your scrambled eggs. Add a little sea salt, a little pepper (to your taste) and give it a final whisk with the fork. Before actually cooking the omelet, make sure your pan is on medium-low heat with a few pieces of whole butter (which is 84% butter fat by law in France) which will help the body absorb Vitamins D & K from the egg. The butter will not sputter when melted because there is less water in it (the higher the butter fat content means less water by weight). Shred your Gruyere cheese (it melts well when heated), and chop your chives.
5:50 - Cooking Your Omelet
Turn the pan up to medium. Chef explains that an omelet is simply scrambled eggs rolled on itself. Add the lightly whisked eggs and scramble them using a rubber spatula. Only cook them until they are cooked but still soft. Arrange the scrambled eggs in the center of the pan and turn off the heat (the pan heat will continue to cook the eggs). [It is worth consulting the video at this point so you can see how Chef cooks the omelet.] Add a sprinkle of chives and top with shredded Gruyere cheese. You can also add any hot, pre-cooked foods like peppers, mushrooms, etc. Then start on one side of the pan and roll the omelet over itself, remove from pan.
7:18 - The Secret Trick
While the omelet is still hot, use a bit of soft butter and bush the omelet with it. This will make the omelet shiny. Top with a little more chopped chives. If you must have toast with your omelet, Chef recommends a toasted or grilled sourdough bread.
7:58 - The Dietary Guidelines
Secretary Kennedy and Chef discussed that after 50 years, the food pyramid has flipped. I discussed the New Food Pyramid in my January 8, 2026 ANP Article and how to calculate servings and calories in my August 2, 2026 ANP Article where I also discussed Episode 1 of The Real Food Show.
8:34 - Reusable Ingredients
If you have leftover peppers or meat or bits and pieces of cheese in your refrigerator, you can easily add them to this omelet. Chef points out that the omelet he just made is soft, not rubbery, nor is it browned. Chives add an oniony flavor without the harshness of regular onions. This meal contains no chemicals. You will be filled with nutritious food which will sate your hunger.
9:59 - Regenerative Farming
On June 25, 2026, President Trump signed EO 14414 Advancing Regenerative Agriculture and Strengthening American Farm Resilience (discussed in my June 26, 2026 ANP Article) with the top 4 regenerative farmers in America invited to the Oval Office for the signing. Between the 4, they have converted 10s of millions of acres to regenerative farming. The EO also directs EPA, USDA, and HHS to help farmers convert to regenerative farming across our nation. Secretary Kennedy said NIH is investigating the impact of cumulative chemical exposures from our food as well as looking into different methods of pest control using less chemicals. There are grant opportunities for farmers wanting to participate. Currently over 60,000 people made inquires and 26,000 submitted applications for the grants. Secretary Kennedy said foods produced from regenerative farming will improve the taste and nutrient density of the food. Secretary Kennedy said regenerative farming will also open up foreign markets to US food products who do not currently allow US foods due to the chemicals.
12:21 - Making a Simple Salad
Chef then moved on to making the simple salad to go with the omelet. And it starts with preparing the dressing. Be careful with what oils you use for your dressing; try to avoid seed oils and oils that have caking agents (look for the words shelf stable then put it back when you see them and pick something else).
13:13 - Prepping Your Vinaigrette
You will need an inexpensive red wine vinegar, ground mustard, some chopped shallots (you can use onion if you don't have shallots but the taste will be more oniony or use garlic instead - if you don't have shallots, onion, or garlic, just skip this step), a little lemon juice, and some olive oil (you can use avocado or other non-shelf-stable oil if you don't use olive oil in your household). Chef then put a spoon of mustard in the bottom of the salad bowl. Then poured in some vinegar, some of the chopped shallots (or onion or garlic), salt, a little lemon juice, and some oil. Whisk it in the salad bowl. Add some freshly ground pepper and toss in some chives. Whisk well.
14:56 - Bibb Lettuce
Know that bibb lettuce is delicate so don't pinch or squeeze it, just gently add it to the dressing and toss. If there is too much dressing, add more lettuce. As an aside, Chef stated
I want to tell you I think that AI and all these incredible advances we're making, time-saving AI, is hopefully going to throw us more into the kitchen. We're going to have time now because AI is going to take care of a lot of the drudgery, so we can go in and learn how to cook again, learn how to sit with our kids and talk about issues and talk about food and just even argue. But we're going to be eating good food together and learning how to eat food we used to eat or original food, back to the farm.
16:25 - The Harms of Screen Use
Senator Kennedy mentioned the US Surgeon General recently published a report on the dangers of screen time (download the advisory pdf and the toolkit pdf for more info). In the report, it says 16-year-olds spent over 8.5 hours a day looking at a screen of one sort or the other. Secretary Kennedy and the US Surgeon General believe that spending so much time on screens is leading to malaise, isolation, fragmentation, and atomization throughout the country and is the number 1 cause for passing out of teenagers and suicide in preteens. Secretary Kennedy points out the best way to combat this situation is connection - to family, community, and nature. Cooking together can be one way to form connections with all 3.
17:53 - A Simple, Affordable Meal
Senator Kennedy says people eat fast food and ultra processed foods because they believe it's more convenient. As Chef just proved, not only is it less expensive to prepare it at home, the food is better, you are making connections, and creating something that tastes good. As a bonus, Senator Kennedy says eating following the new pyramid will allow people to take back their health.
4 tablespoons minced fresh chives ( save 1 tablespoon for the omelet)
Omelet
2 tablespoons unsalted butter plus 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
8 large eggs, beaten
4 egg yolks, beaten (save the egg whites for another day)
1/2 cup grated Gruyere
2 heads butter (Bibb) lettuce
Directions:
Combine the Dijon mustard, shallot and red wine vinegar in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in the olive oil and 3 tablespoons of chives. Set aside.
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a 12-inch nonstick pan over medium heat. When the butter starts to bubble, add the beaten eggs and yolks and the cold cubed butter to the pan, and begin to stir with a rubber spatula. Continue to stir until the eggs are half set, then reduce the heat to low.
When the omelet is soft, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and top with the cheese on one side. Let the omelet sit over low heat, without touching it, for 1 minute, to let the heat of the pan set the eggs.
Roll the omelet over the cheese so it forms a jelly roll shape, then roll the whole omelet onto a large platter.
Lightly spread the remaining tablespoon of butter over the omelet to coat. Garnish the omelet with the remaining tablespoon of chives.
Toss the lettuce with the vinaigrette and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Slice the omelet and serve alongside the salad.
During the video, they were quoting costs; however, their costs are not the same as the costs where I live, so I visited 7 local grocery stores looking for these specific ingredients. Once the price per container was recorded, I calculated the cost for the amount the recipe needs.
While I tried to find the same product at the same weight in each of the 7 stores, I found it was impossible. Trader Joes carries mostly their own store brand of everything including Dijon mustard and pasture raised eggs (chances are they are the same eggs but Trader Joes does not have to tell you where they source their products upon which they apply their brand name because they are a private company).
Did you know that the same brand of Dijon mustard contains 8 ounces of product at 4 of the stores, 7.5 ounces at 2 of the stores, and 13 ounces at the 7th store? There were disparities in the amount of other products as well, like oil ranged from 16 ounces to 17 ounces and don't even get me started on the Gruyere cheese! The prices ranged from $8.99 for 6 ounces to almost $20 per pound! While it was on sale at Whole Foods (44% off for the sale or 50% off for amazon prime members), I used the non-sale price to calculate the cost.
Packets of chives were similar with one store having 1 ounce, 2 stores had .75 ounces, 1 store had .66 ounces, and 3 stores had .5 ounces of chives per package. When I did the calculations, I simply included the total price of the chives without attempting to figure out how many ounces of chives equals 1 tablespoon. Everything else was based on how much of the product was used in the recipe.
When calculating, I first obtained the price per ounce of the item. I used the measurements of 1 ounce = 2 tablespoons; 1 tablespoon = 1/2 ounce; 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons; 1/4 cup = 2 ounces; 1/2 cup = 4 ounces when calculating the price per amount of ingredient cost.
Once a total cost for the entire recipe was calculated, I divided by 4 servings to get the price per serving per store.
Also, I substituted mozzarella cheese for Gruyere at Kroger and Walmart since neither of those stores had Gruyere on hand (annotated in blue in the table below). This created a huge discrepancy in the total cost because the mozzarella cheese was about 1/4 the price of the Gruyere. I selected organic products when available (annotated in red in the table below). The eggs were all the same brand (Vital pasture raised but not organic) for 6 of the stores and the butter was Kerrygold unsalted since all 7 stores carried it (click the table to enlarge it).
In the video above, they said the cost of this meal was $14.93. That is not what I found for 7 grocery stores in my area.
I would remove the total for Walmart since I had to replace the cheese and they did not have any shallots. I would also remove the cost for Kroger since I had to replace the cheese here as well. I would also remove the cost for Trader Joes because they did not carry Bibb lettuce. Surprisingly, that leaves: Albertson's at $27.39; Sprouts at $32.73; Whole Foods at $23.77; and Winco at $22.71.
Those are some of the exact words used by Google’s censors, aka 'Orwellian content police,' in describing many of our controversial stories. Stories later proven to be truthful and light years ahead of the mainstream media. But because we reported those 'inconvenient truths' they're trying to bankrupt ANP.
