Featured Image Credit: (Todd Williamson/NBC/Contributor/Getty Images)
Topics: Celebrity, Vegan, Cooking, TV and Film
Ben Williams
Topics: Celebrity, Vegan, Cooking, TV and Film
Billie Eilish’s mum, Maggie Baird, has spent years carving out an identity that goes well beyond being related to one of the biggest music stars in the world.
While a lot of celebrity family projects can feel polished to within an inch of their lives, Baird’s latest move sounds like it is chasing something a bit more grounded.
That is partly because the 66-year-old has already built a name for herself through sustainability work and food activism, rather than simply stepping in front of the camera for the sake of it. It is also because the idea behind her newest project seems to be rooted in everyday life, from what people cook at home to how much it costs and how realistic it is to keep up.
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As well as her activism, Baird is known as an actress and singer-songwriter, having made her TV debut back in 1981 in soap opera Another World, before breaking onto the big screen in 1989's An Innocent Man. Other credits include the likes of Bones, The X-Files and Six Feet Under.
But now her television career is taking a new direction, as she's launching a new cooking show called Climate Kitchen.
The series is being described as part cooking show, part lifestyle series, and part docuseries, with Baird set to serve as co-creator, executive producer, and host. Rather than going down the usual glossy food-TV route, the show is expected to focus on ‘delicious and affordable’ plant-based meals, practical sustainability tips, and stories from people living on the climate front lines.
In other words, rather than just being about what ends up on the plate, the wider aim is to show how food choices connect to bigger issues, including chronic disease, food waste, affordability, and environmental justice, all whilst keeping the tone accessible for people who are not trying to live perfectly.
Talking to People, Baird said: “I have been looking for a show like this for many years and having not found it," before explaining that audiences increasingly wanted to know ‘how to start making more planet friendly choices in their homes, lifestyle and especially in how they cook and eat.’
She also summed up the show’s message in a way that feels likely to become its big takeaway: “Living a more sustainable, earth-friendly lifestyle can seem all-or-nothing, overwhelming, and expensive, but Climate Kitchen is about embracing progress over perfection, debunking the myths around affordability and investment of time, and showing how small, simple behavior shifts can build toward lasting difference in our own health and the health of our planet.”
What’s more, there is a strong family pull, too. Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell are both set to appear as guests, which will instantly make the show more of a talking point beyond climate and food circles. Baird said it makes her ‘so happy’ that both of her children now love cooking, adding: “Some the best days of the year are those where they join me in the kitchen or I join them in theirs.”
She also revealed one of Billie’s favourite dishes to make is a spicy noodle and tofu soup. Baird said: “[It] has really become her own at this point…She puts enough chili flakes in it to heat up a room! It's delicious.”
Other guests lined up include Martha Stewart, Claudia Sulewski, and Dan Buettner, while production is due to begin later this year ahead of a 2027 premiere.