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While we're getting things back online, take a look at some of my recent posts:
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About Mark
Mark Bittman, whose “Minimalist” column ran in the Dining section of the New York Times for more than 13 years, is a Times Opinion columnist, the lead food writer for The Times Magazine, and a columnist for the Times Dining section. His books include the bestselling How to Cook Everything and the groundbreaking Vegan Before 6 P.M. (VB6), where he provides all the necessary tools for making the switch to a Flexitarian diet with lists for stocking the pantry, strategies for eating away from home in a variety of situations, pointers for making cooking on a daily basis both convenient and enjoyable, and a complete 28-day eating plan showing VB6 in action.
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VB6: Vegan Before Six
Six years ago, an overweight, pre-diabetic Mark Bittman faced a medical directive: adopt a vegan diet or go on medication. As one whose professional and leisure time revolved around cooking, eating, and enjoying a wide variety of fine foods, neither choice was appealing, yet it was clear something had to give. His solution? Shift the focus of his diet to vegetables, fruits, and grains, following a strict vegan diet (no meat or dairy) and eliminating processed foods for most of the day, then eat the foods he simply couldn’t give up forever only after 6 p.m.—and (mostly) in moderation. Beyond that, his eating plan involved no gimmicks, scales, calorie-counting, or point systems—and there were no so-called forbidden foods. Just wholesome, all-natural, mostly home-cooked meals that were as varied and satisfying as they were delicious. The results of this dietary recalibration were swift and impressive. Best of all, they proved to be lasting and sustainable over the long haul.
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Using extensive scientific evidence to support his plan, the acclaimed cookbook author and food policy columnist shows why his VB6 approach succeeds when so many other regimens not only fail, but can actually lead to unwanted weight gain. And far from incidentally, he explains the wide-ranging benefits—to the environment, the economy, and global health—of reducing our consumption of meat and animal products on a broad scale. He then provides all the necessary tools for making the switch to a Flexitarian diet, with lists for stocking the pantry, strategies for eating away from home in a variety of situations, pointers for making cooking on a daily basis both convenient and enjoyable, and a complete 28-day eating plan showing VB6 in action. Finally, Bittman provides more than 60 recipes for vegan breakfast, lunch, and snacks, as well as non-vegan dinner entrées that embrace the spirit of a vegetable- and grain-forward diet.
If you’ve one of the millions who have thought of trying a vegan diet but fear it’s too monotonous or unfamiliar, or simply don’t want to give up the foods you love to eat, VB6 will introduce a new, flexible, and quite simply better way of eating you can really live with . . . for life.
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 The beauty of a one-pot meal is that you can get all your food groups in an easy to make, easy to clean up dish. It doesn’t matter if it’s vegetarian or laced with meat, a one-pot meal allows you to build textures and develop flavors in a simple manner. Pasta, tagine, stews… your options are limitless.
Read the rest of the article and check out the recipes, here.
 I will be speaking at the Brooklyn Food Coalition on Tuesday. Order tickets here. Proceeds from ticket sales go to benefit the Brooklyn Food Coalition–working toward a healthy, just and sustainable food system for all!
I’m thrilled to have just released my new How to Cook Everything iPad app, Cooking Basics. It includes 1,000 photos, 185 recipes, tons of kitchen tips, audio and video clips, and a whole lot more. For a full rundown of all of the content and features (plus more pretty screenshots), continue reading below. To purchase the app, click here.
The Content:
• Simple, straightforward, and gorgeously photographed recipes.
• An intuitive learn-as-you-go layout that allows you to pull up how-to demonstrations that expand on techniques used in the recipe.
• Tap-activated audio commentary from Mark.
• Ground-breaking, self-guided classes—each introduced with a video from Mark—that teach kitchen skills by exploring recipes in depth so you can eat while you learn.
• A Basics section with easy-to-access reference that simplifies topics like setting up your pantry and buying and storing seafood.
• A Skills visual index linking to hundreds of demonstrations of core techniques such as “Preparing Chiles,” “Grinding Meat,” and “Crimping the Pie Shut.”
• Extensive linking, making navigation intuitive, whether you’re searching for something specific, or just browsing.
The Features:
• The ability to make your own recipe notes and take and add photos as you cook, and then share them with friends via Twitter or Facebook.
• A convenient Constant On setting to keep your iPad screen from dimming while you’re working.
• Built-in, step-specific bookmarks and timers to help keep you on track.
• A Favorites folder to organize recipes for later access.
• Customizable shopping lists to make preparation a snap.
• Beyond the Basics links after every recipe that connect you to related dishes in other How to Cook Everything apps.
• Fully downloadable! Like all of the How to Cook Everything apps, Cooking Basics can be used anywhere, anytime, online or offline.
 Listen to the segment or read the transcript here.
There was a time when few of us thought about what we ate, but that’s been turned upside down since the reigning wisdom first decried salt, then cholesterol, then saturated fat, then almost all fat, then red meat, then carbohydrates and so on. Recent culprits include so many foods and foodlike substances that at least twice a week someone asks me: “What’s left to eat? I feel like nothing is safe.”
Before the end of innocence, when hyperprocessed food dominated the diet, we might eat a breakfast of Pop-Tarts or another sugary pastry, followed by a lunch of burgers, fries and a shake, and a dinner of meat-laden pizza, and feel not even a twinge of guilt. Now, almost nothing can be eaten without thinking twice.
Read the rest of this article here.
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Events
Tuesday, April 30: Brooklyn Food Coalition
Friday, May 3: Barnes & Noble Union Square, with an interview by Sam Sifton
Saturday, May 4: Sixth & I
Sunday, May 5: New Roads School Theater
Monday, May 6: Commonwealth Club Palo Alto
Tuesday, May 7: Book Passage at Ferry Building
Tuesday, May 7: Commonwealth Club San Francisco
Saturday, May 11: Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks
Saturday May 11: Blue Water Cafe
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The beauty of a one-pot meal is that you can get all your food groups in an easy to make, easy to clean up dish. It doesn’t matter if it’s vegetarian or laced with meat, a one-pot meal allows you to build textures and develop flavors in a simple manner. Pasta, tagine, stews… your options are limitless.
