Cookie Monster Teaches Us How To Snack Through A Pandemic

Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post/Getty Images
By  Grace Perry

Muppetry remains a beacon of light in this dark, dark world. Like most of us, the Sesame Street monsters are stuck at home, away from their friends, and finding excuses to eat constantly. And guess who loves the sound of perpetual snackage? You guessed it.

Cookie Monster is hosting a weekly show, "Snack Chat," to teach kids about responsible snacking. The show appears to be produced entirely by Cookie Monster himself. He even sings the a cappella intro song: "Snack chat / Snacky chat / Doo be doo be doo / The game where you eat more than you talk / It's snacky chat." Episode one outlines the steps of proper snacking: 1) Admire your snack, 2) Smell your snack, and 3) Eat your snack, preferably in frantic, Cookie Monster-esque fashion. (Simple, direct, timeless.) The next episode demonstrates the simplicity of smoothie making, but unfortunately, the snack does give Cookie Monster a near-debilitating brain freeze. New episodes of "Snack Chat" air every Tuesday on Facebook and YouTube.

These weekly dispatches from Cookie Monster are one part of Sesame Street's "Caring For Each Other" initiative, aka their pandemic programming. The monsters are up to their usual tricks, but from inside their homes instead of out on the stoop: Grover is teaching the difference between "near" and "far," Elmo is hosting sing-alongs, and Oscar the Grouch is completely psyched to not have to interact with any monsters or humans for the foreseeable future. Additionally, Sesame Street's special coronavirus program, "Elmo's Playdate"—a giant Zoom hangout featuring appearances from Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tracee Ellis-Ross, and Anne Hathaway—will air on April 14 at 7pm EST on HBO, PBS Kids, and the other WarnerMedia Networks.

Isolation might've robbed us of our ability to socialize and go to work and take our time at the grocery store and go on dates and pet other peoples' dogs (sigh), but don't let the virus steal your snacking game. Cookie Monster, as usual, is here to keep our priorities in line.

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