I’m working my way through another Mark Bittman book, The Food Matters Cookbook, and it is just as good, if not better, than his previous ones. In the past, “foodies” and “greenies” were never found in the same place, and when they were, fighting ensued. It was taken as read that a person who really cared about delicious food couldn’t possibly be interested limiting or altering food consumption. After all, if this hand-made salami tastes SOOO good why would I ever consider NOT eating it?
This is where Bittman is a genius. He has the foodie credentials, but he also has a passion for re-thinking our patterns of consumption. He advocates a reduction in meat-eating because the average American eats more than 200 pounds of meat per year which is an unsustainable level for our country and our planet. He also considers processed foods to be an evil that is causing obesity and illness in much of the population. Of course none of this is news, but he’s pulled together a very sensible and delicious answer to the current food problem.
Did you know that if the average person ate just three fewer servings of meat per week it would be the carbon equivalent of taking all the SUV’s in America off the road? Pretty amazing stuff if you ask me. Besides, if we all swapped our burger and fries for something better, imagine all the weight we might lose as well. It’s a win-win situation to say the least. His book includes 500 recipes that will surely help to steer us in the right direction.
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