University of Mississippi

                                                   New Audience 

In 2010 the editor-in-chief of a new food magazine for children of all economic levels, 

particularly those at and below poverty level (not the standard magazine target audience) noted, 

“Cooking is the one area where print beats digital for convenience. You want to be able to lay 

the pages displaying the recipe open next to where you’re working.” While low income families 

are much less likely to own a computer, 

ChopChop

 editor Steven Slon explained “even young 

children who have computers enjoy the tactile and visual pleasure of holding a book or magazine 

in their hands.”

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Founded by cookbook author and food writer Sally Sampson in April 2010, 

ChopChop 

is a quarterly magazine for kids aged five to 12 and their families dedicated to reversing and 

preventing childhood obesity published by Kid2Kid, Inc., a non-profit organization based in 

Massachusetts with a website, www.chopchopmag.com, Twitter @chopchopmag, and Facebook 

presence.

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Lively, engaging, and fun, this health and educational resource to teach kids to cook and 

be nutritionally curious and literate that just “happens to be in the form of a printed magazine” 

began with a marketing campaign targeting pediatricians. Pediatricians and family physicians 

“prescribe” the publication encouraging nutritional literacy and for families to cook and eat 

together.

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Editorial includes such features as author and staff writer for the 

New Yorker

 Susan 

Orlean’s profile of a 14-year-old chicken farmer. Veteran magazine reporters and designers 

---

 

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donate their work along with an advisory team from Harvard and other universities.  

Creative thinking is necessary to succeed in the magazine business. While subscriptions 

are offered, most 

ChopChop

 revenue is from foundations, corporations, and the government with 

additional support from schools, hospitals, clubs, and pediatricians.  

“I think the classic magazine revenue model is dead,” editor Slon said. Yet he plans to 

continue using the classic printed page to circulate the magazine’s message. “In the future, that 

model may shift as the tools for transmitting information change. But for now, we think it works 

best as a physical entity.”

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