Mark Bittman has been a leading voice in global food culture and policy for more than three decades. Born in New York City in 1950, Bittman began writing professionally in 1978. After five years as a general assignment reporter, he turned all of his attention to food. His first cookbook, Fish: The Complete Guide to Buying and Cooking, was published in 1994 and remains in print; since then he has written or co-written thirty others, including the How to Cook Everything series.
In 1997 the New York Times asked Bittman to create a weekly column, “The Minimalist,” which ran for thirteen years. In 2008, he wrote a Times “Week in Review” piece called “Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler,” introducing millions of Americans to the connections among the overproduction and overconsumption of meat, chronic disease, and global warming.
This inspired Bittman to produce his two essay-driven books, Food Matters and VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health … for Good, both of which were Times bestsellers (VB6 debuted at No. 1). Simultaneously, he developed a new role at the Times, becoming the country’s first weekly opinion writer at a major publication to concentrate on food while beginning a five-year stint as the Sunday Magazine‘s lead food writer.
Bittman has continued to produce books in the How to Cook Everything series, the general cooking bible for three generations, and has hosted or been featured in four television series, including the Emmy-winning Showtime series about climate change Years of Living Dangerously and Spain … On the Road Again, with Gwyneth Paltrow.
He was a regular on the Today show from 2005 to 2010 (and still appears occasionally) and has been a guest on countless television and radio programs including Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Real Time with Bill Maher, and NPR’s All Things Considered, Fresh Air, and Morning Edition; his 2007 Ted Talk, “What’s wrong with what we eat,” has been viewed five million times. He was distinguished fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and a fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists; he remains a fellow at Yale and is now on the faculty of Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. He has received six James Beard Awards, four IACP Awards, and numerous other honors.
Bittman is also the editor-in-chief of The Mark Bittman Project, a newsletter and website focusing on all aspects of food, from political to delicious. His most recent book is his history of food and humanity, Animal, Vegetable, Junk.