Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes

Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes

3.94 of 5 stars 3.94  ·  rating details  ·  6,832 ratings  ·  606 reviews
From the award-winning champion of culinary simplicity who gave us the bestselling "How to Cook Everything" and "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" comes "Food Matters," a plan for responsible eating that's as good for the planet as it is for your weight and your health.We are finally starting to acknowledge the threat carbon emissions pose to our ozone layer, but few peop...more
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published December 30th 2008 by Simon & Schuster
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Bob
Many readers will, no doubt, be tempted to turn this into a 'diet book'. It's not and the author makes it clear that it's not his intention. It is nothing more than a call to sanity in regards the way we eat and the contents of our meals.

It's refreshing to hear someone make so much sense when it comes to food. The message is simple and logical: eat less animal products, more plant products and cut out pseudo-foods. This will lead to better health, lost weight, money savings, and a clear conscien...more
Mindy
Mar 13, 2009 Mindy rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those in search of the Cliffs Notes to Michael Pollan's work
Shelves: food, 600s, non-fiction
If Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver, and Mark Bittman all invited me to a dinner party on the same evening and I could only accept one invitation, I'd take Bittman's. This book doesn't offer many new insights, but Bittman comes across as less dogmatic and self-righteous than the other two. He seems like someone I could enjoy a meal and a conversation with. And his cookbooks taught me how to cook.
Emily
The things this book says will come as no surprise to readers of Omnivore's Dilemma or Animal Vegetable Miracle. Well written, but framed more as a diet book. Helpful for someone looking to overhaul their diet.
Zelda
Update: Ooooh. Recipes! Automatic four stars!

I kind of can't believe I'm reading instead of using it as kindling for burning my recyclable plastics but it was sitting there on the library shelf and before I knew what was happening I was attacked by a pack of ninjas. In the chaos of the ensuing ninja bloodbath the book ended up in my bag. I was feeling peckish by the time I got home so the subject of food, even heavily spiked with all manner of eco-nonsense, appealed to me and I started reading....more
Elizabeth
Two years ago, Bittman, an admitted foodie, was overweight. Over the course of one month, however, his cholesterol and blood sugar were down. His sleep apnea was gone and he was fifteen pounds lighter. Major changes all by eating healthier, the details of which Bittman discusses at length in the book.

Food Matters is broken up in two sections. The first looks at food consumption and how that impacts global warning (factory farming, yes, but mass produced baked goods are one of the largest contrib...more
Adela (Lita)
This is a good alternative to Pollan's books if you're too busy to read them and want a shortcut to start eating healthy, earth-friendly, affordable food. But you will not get the intellectual pay off that Pollan's books give you. Bittman is smart and concise. His book is about giving people the short story about industrialized farming and a practical approach to everyday eating.
Marie
Michael Pollan's books are much more informative, but I still liked Mark Bittman's easy, straight forward presentation and his recipes are always reliable. I think this book is most suitable for someone who is interested in the most basic explanations of a healthy diet and the problems with our food supply chain.
Paula
Mark Bittman makes so much sense! His plan to add more veggies and grains to your diet is entirely doable. His recipes are delicious and uncomplicated. His is a healthy eating plan I seem able to actually follow. (Of course Jim has lost weight, sigh.)
GraceAnne
I have loved Bittman's recipes in the NYTimes for years. I have taken him as my guru in the quest for a way of eating suitable to the various difficulties being in one's 60s places one.
Colleen
Mar 10, 2009 Colleen rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who care about what they eat
This is largely redundant with Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food, is written with more invective and fewer sources. However, I liked the fact that he pointed out that the treatment of animals in the meat industry is cruel (at best) and that anyone w/ an ounce of compassion should be able to recognized that (especially all the pet owners out there). He also emphasizes the huge effect that meat production has global warming, which is massive beyond belief. The best part of the book though i...more
Molly
A perfect companion to Michael Pollan's 'In Defense of Food.'

In the first half of the book, Bittman details the many horrifying ways that agribusiness, junk food, marketing, and complicit government agencies pose very real threats to our health and our world. In the second part, he lays out his plan for how individuals can counter the trend by changing the way they eat.

Fans of Pollan won't be surprised by the facts and figures Bittman presents (though it's impossible not, still, to be outraged...more
Sara
This particular book I picked up after reading an article about the ending of Mark Bittman’s weekly column for the New York Times. Subtitled “A Guide to Conscious Eating,” it does not jump on the organic bandwagon, but instead examines what it would look like if Americans were more conscious about their food choices. Bittman begins by focusing on the environmental effects of industrialized farming and meat production. He examines the eating of meat and its evolution from being a luxury to becomi...more
Donna
I've heard interviews with Mark Bittman, talking about his book Food Matters. Although the thesis is fascinating and important, this is not a book I would have had time to read in its entirety right now, so I was grateful for the opportunity to download a Kindle sample--which, as usual, was generous enough to provide a real sense of what the book was about.

Basically, as any thoughtful consumer should probably know by now, the world food industry as it has evolved, with its ever-increasing relian...more
Deb
*Eating as if food matters*

In _Food Matters_, author Mark Bittman quickly gets to the heart of the matter of responsible eating. With his trademark direct and no-nonsense style, he shows how America's over-consumption of meat contributes not only to the expanding waistlines and all-time-high incidences of heart disease, cancer, and stroke, but also to global warming. He exposes how government policy and the money-hungry "Big Food" industry have contributed to the health and environmental crises,...more
Monika
Not too much to this book. The basic premise is eat less meat, dairy and junk food, eat more vegetables and whole grains. So nothing new here. What I liked about this book is that Bittman describes how our government has played a role in the obesity epidemic and how big food corporations play a role in our food options. He believes it is up to the individual to change his/her eating habits in order to reduce demand for junk food and meat, which will in turn then change the activity of the Big Fo...more
Mary Bloodworth
This book is basically a guide to eating better rather than a weight-loss diet. He suggests eating about 3 times as many vegetables and fruit than we currently do, and 1/4 as much meat. This guideline will usually result in weight loss and is beneficial to the environment (through decreased reliance on large-scale meat production) as well. He also suggests cutting down on processed grains such as bread (he notes that "multi-grain" might just be more than one processed grain) and pasta.

For his ow...more
Melanie
Another New York Times author, Mark Bittman is on the same page as Michael Pollan. Perhaps because I am very familiar with Pollan I didn't find much value in reading this book (although I am still browsing through the 75 recipes included in this book). I did appreciate Bittman's focus on the "green" aspect of healthy eating because I tend to forget about the energy required to produce and package items when grocery shopping. And it did make me want to focus even more diligently on eating local a...more
Joan
Apr 21, 2009 Joan rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who are looking for an introduction to food/environmentalism issues
Shelves: science
Having read Bittman's New York Times articles for years, I felt like Food Matters was Bittman for Dummies. Maybe not everyone is interested in reading about study after study, but that is what I am interested in, and what I had expected from this book. (I may be a little out of the norm... I also read Livestock's Long Shadow... the report). Instead, in Food Matters, he summarizes all of the studies about the environment, glosses over basics of nutrition, and explains the history of farm policy a...more
Bruce
I found this a very helpful book for someone who has read Kinsolver and Pollan and wants to find a way to put their ideas into practice, but who has to cook for a family, and can't turn everything upside down all at once.

Bittman starts with an overview of the key concepts that Pollan addresses in The Omnivore's Dilemna, but then moves into very practical suggestions. Essentially, he is putting his own spin on Pollan's "Eat food, mostly plants".

His own approach has been to avoid dairy and meat...more
Dana
About two thirds of this book is a cook book, which is awesome, because by the time you are done reading the first third of it, you are eager to jump off your lazy butt and go down to the store and start cooking your own granola and figuring out how to properly slice vegetables.

Mark Bittman tells the story of the American diet with extreme alarm, highlighting the idiocy of a food system that is regulated by companies who sell the food. Apparently, almost every health claim you see on packages in...more
John
I really like Bittman's column "The Minimalist" in the NYTimes because almost all his recipes have simplicity as a component.

Myself, I'm into simplicity expecially with food. Sometimes that simplicity is peanut butter and jelly, sometimes it is a good bottle of wine, a crusty loaf of bread, some garlic, olive oil, and Parmesan Cheese (salt & pepper) -- although, Bittman's recipes are often more sophisticated than my staples. At other times, simplicity for me means, "Gee, it would be simple...more
Tommy
I enjoyed this book even though I'm not sure it had a lot of unique advice to give. I did think the 77 or so recipes at the back was a super bonus.

Bittman does a good job at setting the historical record straight on certain matters. Basically, humans have historically eaten meat (and other foods that have a high number of calories per gram) as often as they could. The trick being is that for most of human history it was harder (or too expensive) to get so we ate it in reasonable amounts. Now tha...more
Gail
I'm so annoyed that I bought this book in hardcover. What a waste of money. I believed the hype. Don't read this book. Just read The Omnivore's Dilemna and enjoy some good writing and investigative journalism. This book is just a weak distillation of what I have already read in other books. I think he was just jumping on the bandwagon. The book is set up like a typical diet book, even though it clams not to be. First comes the personal testimony, then the persuasive bit, then the meal plan, then...more
Danielleb
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Christine
As with most non-fiction books, I enjoy reading them for what one can learn. Food Matters, was no different, although I knew a majority of what Bittman has to tell readers beforehand.

The book is essentially about about how to eat more 'eco-consciously' while also eating more plants (which most Americans do need to do) and getting recommended nutrients daily.

While the book is full of great and basic recipes that one can store up in bulk and make easily and most of the ingredients he has on the e...more
Kim
I like food. I like reading about food. But I get cranky when authors wax self-righteous and tell me about all the terrible things that will happen to me if I keep eating the way I'm eating and explain that if I will only limit my diet to twigs gathered within a block of my house, I will achieve enlightenment. Mark Bittman manages to educate about food without being preachy, contribute to the ongoing dialogue about how the global economy and capitalism influence the way we eat (and why we're fat...more
Andrea
I think I heard about this book from Salon, and I probably found it on Salon because I was looking for information the illustrious Michael Pollan, who I adore. But when I read this Salon review, I knew I had to get a hold of this book - here would be a book that would help me put into practice, practically (like that?), what Pollan has told me in The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food. Here I would finally figure out how to eat healthily and responsibly. . . you can see I had high hopes f...more
Camilla
Before the first of the year I had never heard of Mark Bittman. Now, not only am I am Bittman-phile, but I joined a cooking group where we all cook - and blog about - one of his recipes (from the Food Matters Cookbook) each week. You can follow that venture here: http://thefoodmattersproject.com/

What I like about Bittman is his inclusive attitude. It's not about what you shouldn't eat; it's about eating what's in season and what's local. And if you can't find xyz, it's okay to substitute.

His re...more
Sarah
Eddie and I love watching the "Minimalist" cooking shows on the New York Times website. The recipes are interesting, delicious, and are simple: his cooking philosophy is good ingredients cooked well. I figured I'd check out Mark Bittman's book, Food Matters, since we like the videos so well.

I can summarize the entire book in just one sentence: It is better for the environment, your health, and your weight to eat fewer animal products like meat, milk, and cheese and more plants: fruits, vegetable...more
Patrick Gibson
Jan 30, 2009 Patrick Gibson rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who eat?
Shelves: truth_sort-of
Like Charles Foster Kane, I have my declaration of principles. Part of which includes my love of meat. I love a great steak. A well made hamburger can send me into fits of rapture. From time to time I pick up a ‘food’ book, usually because one has skyrocketed into the public consciousness for a few months acquiring a coveted ‘must read’ status. Then the book vanishes like a poorly remembered dream and I go about eating the same way I always have—whatever the marketing monsters tell me. I don’t c...more
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UW-Parkside Library: Food Matters 1 2 Dec 18, 2012 10:28am  
Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes (Paperback)
Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes (Kindle Edition)
Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes (ebook)
Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes (Kindle Edition)
Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes (Paperback)

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Mark Bittman is an American food journalist and author. He writes a weekly column for The New York Times dining section called The Minimalist.

In 2009 Bittman published Food Matters discussing the topics of environmental challenges, lifestyle diseases, and the overproduction and over consumption of meat, simple carbohydrates, and junk food.

Bittman is married to New York Times graphic designer and a...more
More about Mark Bittman...
How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food How to Cook Everything Vegetarian The Best Recipes in the World The Food Matters Cookbook: 500 Revolutionary Recipes for Better Living Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express: 404 Inspired Seasonal Dishes You Can Make in 20 Minutes or Less

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