Matters of Course

Chatting with Food Matters author Mark Bittman

by Kelly White

Sure, Bittman, the best-selling author and writer of The New York Times' "The Minimalist" column, may have taught you how to cook — but even the most nimble chefs among us don't know how to eat. In Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating (Simon & Schuster), Bittman sits readers down for an alarming what's-up in regard to how we can shape healthy, low-impact diets in the shadow of our carbon footprints. His fact-based game plan unfolds sensibly; the writer, who's visiting the Free Library on Feb. 4, embraces his taste buds, enjoys wine at dinner, and still manages to lose weight — 35 pounds, in fact, since establishing a new relationship with food.

So what brought Bittman around? "I'd been working on [2007's] How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, and some of the stats on meat production were pretty scary," he says. "During this time, a U.N. report came out that talked about the impact of raising livestock on the environment. I also had some bad health news and wanted to lose weight."

Bittman's book, which features more than 75 recipes, reveals startling finds about our country's relationship with consumption. "Americans are consuming 7.1 percent of their calories with soft drinks," Bittman says. "We're taking in 25 percent more calories than we did in 1970."

To combat this trend, Food Matters offers strategies on incremental diet changes and reasonable habits. "Every time you feel tired, do you take a nap or fall asleep wherever you are?" Bittman reasons. "No. So why do we need to eat every time we feel the least bit hungry? We need to re-evaluate our sense of hunger."

So the key message is not to starve, but to cut back — there's always room for something decadent in your fridge. What guilty pleasures await in Bittman's? "The stacks of chocolate that people keep giving me," he says. "[And] a pint of sour cream. It was left over from potato pancakes, and I will probably keep it until it goes bad."

If those are the worst things Bittman keeps in his kitchen, we're adding Food Matters to our book nook immediately.

(editorial@citypaper.net)

Mark Bittman | Wed., Feb. 4, 7:30-9 p.m., $7-$14, Free Library, Central Branch, 1901 Vine St., 215-686-5322, freelibrary.org