This YouTube Cooking Show Is The Feel-Good Content We Need In 2021

You've cheered on your favorite "Top Chef" competitors and drooled over the creative desserts on "The Great British Baking Show," but there's a new cooking show in town and its cast is one of a kind. "Cooking with Friends," a new YouTube series hosted predominately by a neurodiverse and differently abled cast, offers easy recipes and nutritional cooking tips that are sandwiched between original dances and musical numbers. Its feel-good content is both heartwarming and informative, all while addressing ableism in the food space.

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The show is presented by The Camphill Hudson Players, an integrated theater company that came together prior to COVID-19 to perform original works of theater in local schools and communities. Part of the larger global Camphill initiative, Camphill Hudson's mission is to "build community with people of all abilities through living, learning, working and playing with people of all ages, races, abilities and creeds," according to its website.

That sense of togetherness is a key component of "Cooking with Friends," which was conceived as a COVID-friendly outlet for the Players, already has four free episodes up on its YouTube channel. The show aims to "bring smiles and warm hearts while also helping people find new recipes."

In its first episode, the cast teaches viewers how to make three different smoothies. In between cooking, a magical fairy adorned with a sunflower crown pops up periodically to provide helpful nutrition tips like bananas are a good source of potassium and pineapple contains many essential vitamins and minerals.

But smoothies aren't the only thing the members of "Cooking with Friends" know how to whip up. In other episodes, the rotating cast and their guests also demonstrate how to make homemade guacamole, salad and even wild duck.

At the end of each episode, the host sends viewers on their way with an inspiring life tip, such as "Remember: stay hungry for life, shine your special light on everything you do and with everyone you meet."

If cooking has felt a little lackluster lately, the infectiously joyful spirits of the "Cooking with Friends" cast will brighten your day while providing you with easy and delicious recipes.

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