Decoder Ring | How “Chicken Soup” Sold Its Soul

Slate Books

Slate Podcasts

Arts

3.8 • 546 Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chicken Soup for the Soul was the brainchild of two motivational speakers who preach the New Thought belief system known as the Law of Attraction. For more than 30 years, the self-help series has compiled reader-submitted stories about kindness, courage, and perseverance into easily digestible books aimed at almost every conceivable demographic: Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, Chicken Soup for the Grandma’s Soul, Chicken Soup for the Golfer’s Soul, and on and on. Since 1993, these books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling non-fiction book series of all time. But in recent years, the company has become many other things that seem lightyears away from inspirational publishing: a line of packaged foods, a DVD kiosk retailer, and a meme stock. In this episode, with the help of journalist Amanda Chicago Lewis, we tell the story of how this feel-good brand went from comfort food to junk. This episode was written by Willa Paskin and Max Freedman and produced by Max. It was edited by Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s supervising producer. Our show is also produced by Katie Shepherd. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. Special thanks to Rachel Strom. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at DecoderRing@slate.com, or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281. Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we begin, this episode contains adult language.
0:09.7	When Amanda Chicago-Lewis was growing up in the suburbs of New York City, she was a big reader.
0:15.5	I would read everything that came to the house, every magazine.
0:18.4	If my parents had a weird book laying around, I would just pick it up and start reading. But one day she came across a book, its title in swoopy,
0:26.1	multi-colored letters that wasn't for her parents. It was for her. Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul
0:32.5	came out when I was in like fifth or sixth grade, and that really imprinted on me.
0:37.3	Teens will welcome Chicken Suit for the teenage soul like a good friend, one who understands
0:42.7	their feelings, is there for them when needed, and cheers them up when things are looking
0:47.5	down.
0:48.6	Chicken soup for the soul is so accessible and chewable that I just like hoovered it up.
0:55.2	Published in 1997, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul contains scores of short, uplifting stories.
1:02.2	What we learned that year was that nothing can beat persistence.
1:05.7	We learned that we were the stuff of which winners are made.
1:09.7	The stories are about all aspects of teenage life.
1:12.9	First loves, first heartbreaks, teachers, tests, sports.
1:16.9	Jason played like a first stringer that day.
1:19.1	He ran fast, found every open hole in the line,
1:22.2	and jumped up after every tackle as if he had never been hit.
1:25.6	They're about the hard things, too.
1:29.3	Grief, disordered eating, depression. Angela, I have to tell you something.
1:32.3	When you called, I was in the basement.
1:34.3	I was about to kill myself.
	...

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