Michelle Zamora, of Viva La Puppet, has worked as a puppeteer on titles including “Garfunkel & Oates,” “Comedy Central’s Adult Swim Fun House” and “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” to name just a few. But stepping into “Waffles + Mochi,” Netflix’s food-based series that starts streaming Tuesday, raised the bar for what puppets could do on-camera — by having them eat.

“I did not think I would be eating soup as a puppet,” Zamora tells Variety. “Puppets usually don’t touch human food because it’s just not practical: you could ruin the puppet, why would you want to do that? Just make a foam cookie or what-not — usually just something that looks like food and they go, ‘Om nom nom nom nom.’ With Waffles, the challenge was that we really wanted to see her experience these foods — and doing it in a way that wasn’t gross.”

“Waffles + Mochi...