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October 30, 2026
The Diamantas Family Joins HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr For The 7th Episode of The Real Food Show Making Buttery Salted Pumpkin Seeds And Pumpkin Cookies
Acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas, his wife, Caroline, and their 3 children join Secretary Kennedy for Episode 7 of The Real Food Show making Buttery Salted Pumpkin Seeds and Pumpkin Cookies in this Halloween special episode. The video below is divided into 11 chapters (timestamp is included so you can go straight to that chapter in the video for more clarification).
0:00 - Chapter 1 - Intro
Secretary Kennedy welcomes everyone to the show explaining that they are at the home of Kyle Diamantas. Kyle tells Secretary Kennedy that real food builds community and that starts in the home with parents teaching their children how to cook.
0:50 - Chapter 2 - Meet the Family!
Kyle Diamantas, his wife, Lauren, oldest child Charlotte, middle child, Caroline, and youngest child, Claire join Secretary Kennedy in their home kitchen. Caroline, tells Secretary Kennedy they had pumpkins in Florida where they lived before moving to DC so Kyle Diamantas when Kyle became Deputy Commissioner for Food in February 2025. He was promoted to Acting FDA Commissioner in May 2026.
1:42 - Chapter 3 - Carving the Pumpkin 🎃
Secretary Kennedy begins by cutting the top of the pumpkin so the children can help take out the 'guts' (seeds). The youngest, Claire, puts her hand right in and comes out with a handful of guts and Secretary Kennedy points out she's not squeamish at all. Secretary Kennedy explained that they would be carving the pumpkin into something really scary after they were done. Kyle pointed out that pumpkins grow in all 50 states but Illinois produces the most pumpkins out of all of them. Secretary Kennedy directed Caroline to place the seeds in a large bowl of water so the seeds will float away from the guts.
Caroline asked Secretary Kennedy what his favorite Halloween costume was, he replied pirate and said he was one every year. Caroline told Secretary Kennedy that the pumpkin is actually a fruit because it has seeds inside. Secretary Kennedy asked how many seeds were in the pumpkin. Guesses were between 150 and 240. Once the pumpkin was empty, Secretary Kennedy asked what they should carve into the pumpkin. Caroline suggested a ghost. Secretary Kennedy suggested a cat because he just got a male Bengal cat whom they named Bella and resembles a cheetah.
3:40 - Chapter 4 - Prepping the Pumpkin Seeds
Secretary Kennedy took Claire t6o the end of the table to help him carve the pumpkin while Kyle, Caroline, and Charlotte (the oldest child) prepped the seeds. Kyle assigned Caroline the task of counting the seeds while he and Charlotte collected the seeds and set them out to dry.
Kyle explained that jack-o'-lanterns were originally from Ireland but were actually turnips. In the US, we changed turnips to pumpkins because they were easier to carve and more plentiful.
Charlotte asked if she planted one of the seeds in the back yard would it produce pumpkins? To which Kyle said yes and that you'd have pumpkins in 3 to 4 months but they missed the planting time for this year so they will save some of the seeds and plant them next spring. Kyle explained that having the seeds makes it a sustainable as well as healthy and nutritious treat because you can use the seeds to make more pumpkins.
4:56 - Chapter 5 - Secretary's Carving Assistant
While Kyle, Caroline, and Charlotte are prepping the pumpkin seeds, the show moves over to Secretary Kennedy with Kyle's wife, Lauren, and youngest child, Claire, starting to carve the pumpkin by drawing on the pumpkin with a marker where they will be carving making big cat eyes and a nose. Kyle asked Caroline for the seed count and she reported 196 seeds so Caroline won with her guess of 195. Kyle joked that the reward was being able to clean up the kitchen. Secretary Kennedy started carving the pumpkin.
6:30 - Chapter 6 - The Secret to Crispy Seeds
Kyle instructed Caroline and Charlotte to use paper towels to dry the seeds then they put them on the baking sheet. Kyle explained that pumpkin seeds are a nutrient dense food with lots of vitamins, minerals, and protein. [Pumpkin seeds can also be used as an anti-parasitic which was explained in my May 11, 2025 ANP Article.]
Using melted butter, Charlotte brushed butter on the seeds, making sure both sides of every seed is covered with butter. Then they divided the seeds in 1/2 so they could salt one half and put seasoning on the other (like cinnamon). Then the seeds were placed in an oven at 400F for 21 minutes, rotating every 7 minutes so they will cook evenly.
7:52 - Chapter 7 - What's New at the FDA?
Secretary Kennedy asked Kyle to tell everyone what he is doing at the FDA these days. Kyle noted GRAS (generally recognized as safe) reform is in the works. In the 1950s Congress passed the Food Additive Amendment requiring food producers to file a formal petition to the FDA to be reviewed before a food could be put into the supply chain if the petition was approved. However, it excluded GRAS ingredients, so companies did not have to test vinegar, salt, baking soda, and other food ingredients that were historically used in food preparation. Secretary Kennedy says the GRAS process is a loophole that has been hijacked by food producers. Kyle went on to explain that congress will have to help close that loophole. Secretary Kennedy then asked how things were going with food dyes. Kyle noted that industries embraced the new food dye policy removing petroleum-based dyes and other retailers have removed other additives from their shelves. The largest [unnamed] private label brand has agreed to remove 40 different [unnamed] additives from their brands. Charlotte asked her dad why he loved working at the FDA. He replied
Well, FDA is a great place to work. First and most, I get to work with people like Secretary Kennedy on a daily basis, Dr. Oz, Dr. Schwartz, Jay Bhattacharya, really just tremendous people there. And the work changes lives, right? The work we've done on food reform has incredible impact. Food sales, real food sales, right, real food, we talk about real food. Those sales are up close to 10% year over year. We've seen a decrease in obesity that Secretary Kennedy talks a lot about for the first time in 40 years. So being able to work somewhere where we're actually [Secretary Kennedy interrupted with And people are actually living longer.] People are living longer too. So the work we're doing actually has meaningful change for millions and millions of Americans. And that's probably the most rewarding part of it.
Kyle then announced it was time to flip the seeds and return them to the oven for the next 7 minutes.
11:25 - Chapter 8 - Halloween Q&A
Caroline asked Secretary Kennedy what is favorite Halloween dish was. Secretary Kennedy replied that even before he changed his diet he didn't eat many sugary products but his favorite was pumpkin pie. He also likes sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and holiday foods like turkey with lots of gravy, and mashed potatoes. Kyle pointed out that Secretary Kennedy eats a lot of fermented foods and wanted to know if you could ferment pumpkin. Secretary Kennedy stated that you could ferment anything and some tastes pretty good.
Secretary Kennedy did say that he likes to eat sugar, sweets, chocolate, and butterscotch, but the diet he is on is healthier for him and he is not missing the sugary stuff as much. When Caroline asked what one of his favorite memories was for Halloween as a kid, he replied going trick-or-treating with his 11 brothers and sisters in his dad's convertible with the top down. Caroline then asked what was his favorite pumpkin carving. He replied it was a very scary pumpkin with 100 very skinny teeth. Kyle showed Secretary Kennedy their Eat Real Food pumpkin.
14:02 - Chapter 9 - Making Pumpkin Cookies 🍪
While the seeds are roasting, they started making the cookies. Caroline started by scooping out pumpkin from a roasted whole pumpkin that had been cooling on a cookie sheet [they did not show how to roast the pumpkin] and putting it into a bowl. Kyle pointed out that these cookies are have no added sugar. They are made with pumpkin, peanut butter (can substitute almond butter), honey, cinnamon, chocolate chips, and oatmeal. Caroline moved all the wet ingredients to the bowl with the pumpkin and stirred them together. Charlotte mixed the dry ingredients then dumped them into the bowl with the wet ingredients. The girls then mixed the batter with their hands. They then made little pumpkin balls and placed them onto a baking sheet, then smashed them down into cookie shape. Charlotte asked Secretary Kennedy what is favorite Halloween treat was when he was a kid to which he replied chocolate chip cookies. Kyle pointed out this pumpkin cookie would be similar to chocolate chip cookies with no added sugar. Kyle flipped the seeds for the final time.
15:55 - Chapter 10 - The Power of Family Cooking
Kyle pointed out that this, right here (in the kitchen with the children) is what it's all about
Real food builds community, right? We're doing it in our houses. We're not out eating. We're getting treats from the store. We're here doing it at home, teaching the kids how to cook. Claire’s just digging in. Good job, Claire.
The pumpkin seeds are now done, so they pulled them out of the oven and tasted them, with Caroline noting they taste like popcorn.
Kyle said he learned last night that pumpkin seeds have 8 grams of protein to which Secretary Kennedy replied that's more than an egg.
16:48 - Chapter 11 - Taste Test!
The cookies came out of the oven and they tasted those as well. Then Secretary Kennedy showed off the carved pumpkin named Bella. They ended this episode with:
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