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My Interview with 9 year old food blogger Martha Payne

9 year old food blogger Martha Payne has been all over the worldwide news lately due to her food blog NeverSeconds which has gone viral, with over 1.6 million pageviews so far. Martha started her blog because she was coming home from school hungry due to lousy-tasting, unhealthy school lunches. She decided to take photos of her lunch every day and post them on a blog, along with ratings of the food. It wasn’t long before she received international attention…even school lunch activist Jamie Oliver got involved. And, more importantly, her school has improved the quality of their lunches because of Martha’s efforts!

As soon as I read about Martha, naturally I wanted to interview her. I checked her blog for contact info, then after finding none went directly to Twitter. Bingo…I found her dad, Dave, who is, of course, a #prouddad, as he stated in one of his tweets! (Thank you, Dave, for tweeting me back with your email address!) Martha was kind enough to get back to me within 24 hours with her fantastic answers to my questions… :)

Peggy: Where do you live, how old are you, and what grade are you in?

Martha: I live in Lochgilphead in Argyll in Scotland. I am 9 years old and in a class called P5.
Peggy: Why did you decide to start your blog?
Martha: I wrote a newspaper article in school about the sinking of the Titanic and really enjoyed it so I asked Dad if I could write everyday. I came up with the idea of a blog about lunches because I was coming home hungry. 
Peggy: Your blog has gone viral, you’ve received lots of media attention…you’ve even been contacted by Jamie Oliver! Tell us about that. How does it feel to be so famous? Did you know who Jamie Oliver was before this?
Martha: I have seen some of Jamie’s TV programmes with my family and we have some of his recipe books. Many people sent him a message about my blog. He said on TV that I should take over from him! I don’t feel famous. My friends are the same as before. It’s nice to be asked questions but I think I’d rather ask than answer. 
Peggy: Your parents must be pretty smart and cool, to have raised a kid like you. What kinds of things have they taught you that turned you into such a leader?
Martha: My mum has a really important job. She is a family doctor and also runs a hospital. When she is on call she has to rush in sometimes. She is always fair and kind to everyone. One rule we have is limited electronic time so I am not allowed to watch a lot of TV or play on computers though answering this email doesn’t count! We have to mute TV ads and dad always says he’d rather give us an experience than a toy. 
Peggy: I like your parents! Any idea what you would like to be when you grow up?
Martha: I’d like to be a journalist and ask questions. I have a friend in Spain who is a journalist and she is really cool.
Peggy: What do you like to do when you’re not blogging and trying to change the school lunch system?
Martha: I like to have my friends over to play. We make dens outside and I show them our lambs. Sometimes they help round the sheep up. 
 Peggy: Do you like chocolate? If so, what is your favorite kind?
Martha: I love chocolate and my favourite is called Dairy Milk.
Peggy: Martha, thank you so much for your time. Please tell your parents thank you for helping and for raising such a great person! Keep on changing the world, sweet girl!
Martha: Thank you for reading my blog.

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