Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired back hard at CNN this week after the network attempted to undermine his new cooking show with what he called deeply flawed arithmetic.
The Real Food Show is RFK's effort to teach Americans how to prepare healthy meals for under $5 per serving. CNN decided such a commendable effort had to be snuffed out immediately for reasons known only to them. So they sent one of their backbench intrepid correspondents out to go grocery shopping for the ingredients used in one of those recent meals — Wild Alaskan Salmon Cakes.
Tom Foreman, in a segment for "Erin Burnett OutFront," remade the cakes featured on the program and insisted it could not realistically cost what Kennedy and his guest chef were suggesting.
"What does it really cost?" the chyron asks, while Foreman complains about "dubious claims" on the program. The tenor is ominous. The drama, intense.
Foreman adds up the cost of the ingredients and notes that, at one point, RFK is using a "trick" by pricing out an individual egg for the recipe, not the cost of a dozen eggs.
Seriously. When calculating the cost of the meal, he claims that using only the cost of the one solitary egg in the recipe is some sort of arithmetic wizardry.
CNN remakes one of the “affordable” meals from RFK Jr.’s new cooking show. It should cost under $5 per serving, but what’s the real price point? @tomforemancnn reports. pic.twitter.com/7kvmaqa5cL
— Erin Burnett OutFront (@OutFrontCNN) August 20, 2026
It's hard to believe Foreman and CNN put out this segment. How dumb do they think their viewers are? Do they honestly think they go to the grocery store and are beside themselves that they can't just purchase one egg, or buy just a sliver of an onion?
Okay, well maybe there's a chance. Their viewers certainly buy into some other stories CNN puts out, like Russia collusion and the vaccine prevents the spread of COVID. So, there's that.
The crime here, aside from that goofy shirt Foreman is wearing, is that he's presenting this as some wild conspiracy. Apparently, when Tom goes to a restaurant and orders a hamburger, he fully expects the place to charge for the bulk package of ground beef they bought, along with the entire package of rolls, a whole head of lettuce, an entire jar of mayo, etc.
RFK pointed out the logistics behind actual meal pricing in a social media jab at the show's namesake.
"Trump Derangement Syndrome has so debilitated [Erin Burnett] that she has abandoned both common sense and basic arithmetic," he wrote on X. "CNN wants us to incorporate the full package price of every ingredient, regardless of what is used in the recipe."
"If you put a squirt of ketchup on your burger, would you be surprised if the restaurant charged you for the whole bottle?"
I sure would. Tom, in his pastel pinstriped shirt, not so much.
Trump Derangement Syndrome has so debilitated @ErinBurnett that she has abandoned both common sense and basic arithmetic.
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) August 21, 2026
CNN wants us to incorporate the full package price of every ingredient, regardless of what is used in the recipe.
If you put a squirt of ketchup on your… https://t.co/0vUy9yoJdC
Embedded tweet continues:
... burger, would you be surprised if the restaurant charged you for the whole bottle?
The Real Food Show uses standard recipe costing: we count what the recipe actually uses. The rest stays in your kitchen for the next meal—and the meals after that.
Our goal is simple: help Americans reclaim their kitchens, cook healthy food without breaking the bank, and stock their pantries with high-quality ingredients they can use again and again. That’s how we Make America Healthy Again.
What a concept. You put the bottle of avocado mayo back in the refrigerator and use it for other foods. Or, you use it strictly for that same recipe and make yourself about 38 Wild Alaskan Salmon Cakes.
Which, as a connoisseur of foods that are terrible for you, sounds awful. Though I'm certain my colleague Ward Clark would disagree.
It might be a step above RFK’s strict regimen of red meat and fermented vegetables, which Sec. of State Marco Rubio hilariously described as a "crazy diet" forcing him to lug around coolers full of "sauerkraut and meat."
🤣 LMAO! Marco Rubio just dropped this hilarious response to Sec. RFK Jr.'s diet
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 11, 2026
Q: Have you adopted RFK's diet of red meat and fermented vegetables?
RUBIO: "No! This is a CRAZY diet. This is a diet that consists of eating sauerkraut and meat. Now you understand like this is… pic.twitter.com/qgaMNjsIhu
I'm going with the President on this one. Give me McDonald's and a Diet Coke every day of the week. Unlike CNN, I won't, and most people probably wouldn't, try to rain on the parade of someone trying to eat a little healthier.
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