Nationally known cooking authority, Mark Bittman, is a food writer with a new book (2009), Food Matters, in which he offers a plan for “responsible eating that is as good for the planet as it is for your weight and your health.” First, he relates how government policy, big business marketing, and global economics influence what we choose to put on our table each evening. Then he gives his straight-forward, budget-conscious advice that will help you make “small changes that will shrink your carbon footprint—and your waistline—without undergoing any sacrifice.”
In 2006 the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s report, Livestock’s Long Shadow, revealed this stunning statistic: Global livestock production is responsible for about one-fifth of all greenhouse gases—more than transportation. This was a signal moment for him for he had also been having some growing personal health problems–and coupled with the global outlook, concerns with animal products in general (the quality of meat, the endangerment of wild fish, the way domestic animals are raised), and the impact our diet has had on the environment–he suddenly awoke to how personal and global health intersected so exquisitely.
Bittman then reviews statistics on past and present consumption of meat, what it has done to the environment, and where this over-consumption is taking us. He reviews the history of nutritional advice. He concludes that much about the typical American diet is wrong. Americans are getting about 90% of their diet from animal products and highly processed food and about 10% of their calories from plants whereas a strong argument can be made that we should be getting exactly the opposite. It is damaging both individually and globally–and, looking at facts, we can’t expect the government or Big Food to really fix it.
He resolved to do something about the situation in his own life, recognizing that eating, for him, was one of life’s basic pleasures that he was unwilling to give up. So the plan that he came up with fit him and his life style, and he has considerable hope that it will appeal to others–thereby easing the effect on global warming. Most briefly put, he is a vegan until 6 p.m. He eliminates meat, refined carbs and junk food until dinnertime—and then he eats whatever and however much he wants. He declares that he doesn’t feel he’s making any sacrifice, and he doesn’t have to count calories. He started sleeping better and feeling better. After 4 months his cholesterol and blood sugar were normal and he’d lost 35 pounds. He has considerable discussion of the ways that others may also eat as though food matters, and he gives many guidelines, a full month of sample menus, details of stocking your Food Matters pantry; and two-thirds of his book consists of his recipes where he says “it’s easy to create basic flavor combinations that make even the simplest food—lettuce leaves, steamed broccoli, boiled grains, cut up (or grated) raw veggies– taste not only delicious but novel.”