Exclusive Cover Story for ChopChop Magazine, First Lady Michelle Obama Talks Family Dinners and Let’s Move
Watertown, MA (PRWEB) February 19, 2015 -- James Beard Award-Winning ChopChop: The Fun Cooking Magazine for Families will celebrate its fifth anniversary with a special spring issue featuring First Lady Michelle Obama, whose own Let’s Move! campaign is also celebrating its fifth birthday. Mrs. Obama sat down with ChopChop kid reporters to talk about learning to cook, messing up a recipe, getting her daughters to try new foods, and five years of Let’s Move! Mrs. Obama had a 5th birthday celebration for ChopChop and Let’s Move! with the kids in the Diplomatic Reception Room. The exclusive interview is inside the spring issue, which ships February 16th, and the full interview with the First Lady is available at http://www.chopchopmag.org/FLOTUS.
“We’re so thrilled to have the First Lady on the cover of our fifth-anniversary issue,” said Sally Sampson, Founder and President of ChopChop. “We’ve been so honored to work alongside her all these years—with our shared passion for healthy living and healthy families—and now we’re celebrating our organizations’ fifth birthdays together.”
This is not the magazine’s first visit to the White House: ChopChop previously featured former Let’s Move! Executive Director Sam Kass and Grover from Sesame Street in Spring 2012 and the White House chefs in Fall 2011.
ChopChop’s anniversary issue also includes kid-tested recipes for five favorite family dinners, recipes for our youngest chefs, basic kitchen skills, a visit to the White House garden, interactive games, and more. And, of course, the exclusive interview with Mrs. Obama. Excerpts from the extended interview with Mrs. Obama, available at http://www.chopchopmag.org/FLOTUS:
What was the first thing you remember cooking by yourself?
A peanut butter and jelly sandwich… For New Year’s Eve, my family would make fun appetizers. My mom taught me how to make little cheese puffs: cream cheese and garlic powder and a bunch of other stuff, and then we’d spread it on a Ritz cracker and bake it.
Have you ever messed up a recipe?
Oh, gosh, yes. There are too many ways to mess up recipes… There were a lot of hits and misses with cooking… one of the first dishes I made for my then-boyfriend, now- husband, was seafood gumbo. I didn’t mess it up, but it was a pretty ambitious dish to cook for the first time… I've had my share of undercooked chicken. Many first-timers mess up on cooking chicken.
What was your favorite thing to eat as a kid?
Macaroni and cheese. I still love it… The President doesn’t like macaroni and cheese, and we all think he’s crazy.
Is there anything you didn’t like to eat when you were a kid that you like to eat now?
I didn’t like Brussels sprouts and now roasted Brussels sprouts are one of my favorite vegetables… Whenever there were Brussels sprouts at dinner my brother and I used to try to slip them into our napkins and leave them on the floor–like our mom wouldn’t see a pile of food on the floor. [Laughter.]
How do you get your daughters to try new foods?
I force them. [Laughter.] I’m just kidding. Well, I’m sort of kind of kidding. The dinner table is where we experiment, our kids just get used to all different types of vegetables, because that’s how we eat in our house… My recommendation to kids is: Keep trying different things, and don’t be too whiny about food because you need food to live—and you need good food to live. You can’t live on soda and snacks. You just can’t.
Mrs. Obama’s exclusive interview with ChopChop appears in the spring 2015 issue. For the full interview, go to http://www.chopchopmag.org/FLOTUS.
“Our fifth anniversary is an important milestone for ChopChop,” said Sampson. “Not only does it give us an opportunity to look at all we’ve achieved over the past five years, but it helps us to look for ways to expand on our mission and realize our vision of reaching every school-aged child in this country.”
For more information on ChopChop’s mission and how you can support the organization by subscribing, visit http://www.chopchopmag.org.
About ChopChop
Named 2013 Publication of the Year by the James Beard Foundation, ChopChop: The Fun Cooking Magazine for Families, is a nonprofit quarterly food magazine published by ChopChopKids, Inc, a 501(c)(3). Endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, ChopChop is published in English and Spanish. Our mission is to inspire and teach kids to cook and eat real food with their families. Our vision is to reduce and prevent childhood obesity. ChopChop is also the recipient of multiple gold awards from the Parents’ Choice Foundation, the nation’s oldest nonprofit guide to quality children’s media and toys. To learn more about ChopChop's mission, and to support the organization by subscribing to ChopChop Magazine or by donating to its cause, please visit http://www.chopchopmag.org. Follow ChopChop on Twitter at @ChopChopMag, on Facebook at facebook.com/ChopChopMagazine or on Pinterest at pinterest/ChopChopMag.
Sharon Sprague, ChopChop Magazine, http://www.chopchopmag.org, +1 (617) 924-3993, [email protected]
Share this article