Super Eco

Photo credit: Sonny Side Up! on flickr

Mark Bittman is an artful autodidact chef and culinary guru for a generation of foodies interested in clean, slow, common sense, sustainably vibrant food. In his weekly New York Times food column, "The Minimalist" Bittman meshes accessible and affordable ingredients with common sense cooking techniques to produce innovative, delicious and economical dishes. Bittman’s “everyman” appeal and trademark informal approach to cooking make him a natural when it comes to his TV programs Bitten, and ambitious cookbooks,“The Best Recipes in the World” (2005) and “How to Cook Everything” (2006).

How To Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple meatless recipes for great food, published in 2007, is Bittman's comprehensive manifesto on everything vegetarian, where he at once demystifies, simplifies and celebrates vegetarian cuisine.

In his December, 2008 book, Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating, Bittman underlines the importance simplifying one's diet by eating less factory farmed animal protein—choosing instead small farmed, grass fed sources—eating more green leafy foods and vegetables, fruits, pulses and grains. He also explains how by choosing fewer prepared, over-processed foods you can reduce the pressure on your pocketbook while at the same time improving your health. The publisher, Simon and Schuster, sums up the book like this: "He demystifies buzzwords like "organic," "sustainable," and "local" and offers straightforward, budget-conscious advice that will help you make small changes that will shrink your carbon footprint—and your waistline."

Notable Eco Activity

In his humorously impassioned talk "What's Wrong With What We Eat" Mark Bittman weighs in on the evils of our global consumption—too much meat, too few plants; too much fast food, too little home cooking—and why it's putting our entire planet at risk.

Bittman, in his NY Times article "Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler," states that, "Global demand for meat has multiplied in recent years, encouraged by growing affluence and nourished by the proliferation of huge, confined animal feeding operations. These assembly-line meat factories consume enormous amounts of energy, pollute water supplies, generate significant greenhouse gases and require ever-increasing amounts of corn, soy and other grains, a dependency that has led to the destruction of vast swaths of the world’s tropical rain forests."

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    Food writer/Author