Studio Anorak, publisher of Anorak and DOT, the “Happy Magazines for Kids,” has just premiered its latest treat: CHEW, “The Yummy Magazine for Kids.” It is filled with recipes, games, stories, interviews with chefs and educational pieces focusing on a theme—the first being oranges. Published quarterly, CHEW is illustrated entirely by Italian artist Sara Arosio.
According to the publication, the mission is to inspire children to embrace the joys of healthy food. (CHEW acknowledges that not all families have access to food and will be donating 10% of the magazine sales to food banks, as well as offering a 30% discount to schools.) Studio Anorak’s founder Cathy Olmedillas says, “There increasingly seems to be a disconnect between the food on our plates and its source. In our humble way, with CHEW we want to educate children (and their families!) about how incredible a simple vegetable or fruit is, and inspire them to cook and eat healthily.”
Below, Olmedillas and I bite into CHEW.
What inspired you to produce CHEW?
CHEW almost came instead of DOT, 10 years ago, but I ended up publishing a children’s food book, which was called Food is Fun. The reason I launched DOT first is because parents were asking us for a younger version of Anorak, so I obliged! In the summer, I revisited the plans I had for CHEW, and I was struck how fully formed the ideas for it were. Around the same time, I came across some depressing stats about children’s diets in the U.K. and USA, so it felt like CHEW could be of use, too. Not just a pretty mag!
Why did you launch it as a print magazine?
I think the magazine format helps children to get interested in many different things, outside of the school curriculum. It’s also less of a commitment than a book. It’s an easily digestible format (pun intended!) and I hope that it will ignite curiosity in children about the joys of simple food and the amazing larder Mother Nature gives us.
What has the early feedback been like?
So far, so good—everyone we have shown it to has fallen in love with the mixture of beautiful illustrations, all done by Sara Arosio, and the fun content.
Do you have enough funding to continue publishing it?
Yes, we have funding aside for six editions, which is nearly two years, as the magazine is quarterly.
Do you believe the magazine will reach its audience? And who is the audience?
Well, I hope so and think we will, because we have a good network of parents who follow us already. The audience is children aged 6+ and their families. Like with DOT and Anorak, I would love for CHEW to become a shared experience, but this time around food.
What is your favorite part of the magazine?
I love everything about it. I feel like a spoilt magazine-mamma with this one! If I had to pick one thing, it would be how we take one humble fruit, the orange, and build a whole around it: from a wacky comic about oranges and lemons fighting for centuries, to a cow that steals oranges, educational pieces about the history of the orange trade, and recipes.
