Food with Mark Bittman
Former New York Times food journalist and #1 bestselling author Mark Bittman (How to Cook Everything; VB6; Animal, Vegetable, Junk) is joined by co-host (and daughter) Kate to explore all aspects of food – from what to have for dinner, how to raise healthy children, and how to perfect your cooking routine to big picture questions about climate change, sustainability, food policy, and global hunger. Each week, Mark and Kate talk with cooks, celebrities, chefs, farmers, activists, policymakers, and food-lovers about the role of food in their lives, what they love to cook, and the ways that food impacts our society. Plus Mark and...
Florence Fabricant: On Being Salty, Making Pigs-In-Blankets Famous, and Why Influencers Drive Her Nuts
Florence Fabricant has been writing about food for the New York Times since 1972. She has watched farm-to-table go from fringe idea to cliche, lived through the rise of the celebrity chef, and outlasted most of the restaurants she ever wrote about. This week, she joins Mark and Kate to talk about her new memoir, Salty, Not Sweet: A Life in the Food World – a book she resisted writing for years and then couldn't stop once she started. They cover how André Soltner at Lutèce changed the way Americans thought about chefs, why food journalism has never been more demo...
Jennifer Siebel Newsom: What California Got Right About School Food
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, First Partner of California, joins Mark and Kate to talk about what actually happened when the state decided every public school kid deserves two free meals a day, and that more than half of those meals should come from California farms. It sounds like a policy conversation, but it's really a story about scratch kitchens, nacho bowls, salad bars, fountain milk, and what it looks like when someone decides to treat school lunch like it matters. They cover the Farm to School roadmap Jennifer built from the ground up, how California became the first state to...
Nik Sharma: If You Understood What Was Happening in Your Kitchen, You'd Cook Completely Differently
Nik Sharma is a former molecular biologist who left his lab for a kitchen and never looked back. He's a three-time James Beard finalist, an editor-in-residence at America's Test Kitchen, and the author of Fundamentals of Flavor. We cover what baking soda actually does to meat (the meatball revelation alone is worth the episode), why you can marinate all day in yogurt but never in vinegar, and the four elements of nature as a framework for understanding everything that happens in a kitchen.
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Justin Ellen: On Cooking Better Than Grandma, Missing Prom to Be On "Is It Cake," and Being A Young Black Baker In a World That Doesn't See You Coming
Justin Ellen is a phenom baker at just 22 years old, has almost a million Instagram followers, and his debut cookbook "Better Than Grandma's" is out this week. He appeared on Netflix's "Is It Cake?" at just 18, fooling the judges twice, while also missing his prom and graduation to film it. This episode was recorded in person at Mark's house in Glynwood, where Justin and Mark made bread pudding from Justin's book. Justin talks to Mark and Kate about starting his baking business accidentally at 15, making Mary J. Blige's birthday cake, and why being a young Black male baker in...
Happy 90th Birthday, Marion Nestle! Plus: How a Cereal Company Broke the FDA
Marion Nestle is turning 90 today and she has not slowed down. Her new book, Sugar Coated, co-written with former Kellogg vice president Lisa Sutherland, tells the story of US food and nutrition policy through cereal boxes — complete with full-color reproductions of every front and back panel of All-Bran, Rice Krispies, and Froot Loops going back to the early 1900s. Mark and Kate talk with Marion about how Kellogg broke the FDA, why the cereal industry's playbook is identical to the tobacco industry's, and what it means that RFK Jr. just declared war on petroleum dyes. Marion also reveals that Kel...
Mara Fleishman on MAHA, Michelle Obama, and Why Everyone Suddenly Agrees on School Food
Mara Fleishman is the co-founder and CEO of the Chef Ann Foundation, which has reached more than 19,000 schools, 35,000 school food professionals, and nearly 6 million students in its work to replace ultra-processed food with fresh, scratch-cooked meals. Before that, she spent a decade at Whole Foods as their global director of partnerships. We talk about what school food actually looks like now versus what it looked like a generation ago, why the biggest barrier to change is not budget but workforce, and how the Chef Ann Foundation is building purchasing cooperatives that connect small districts directly to local farms. Mark...
Pooja Bavishi: I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Malai
In this revisiting of an episode from last summer, the up and coming queen of ice cream talks to Mark and Kate about how her ice cream brand, Malai, mimics her childhood; what it means to build your own culture; sourcing intentionally with no shortcuts—and why having a values-driven business is so important to her; and why her parents are the best people ever (and her #1 fans).
The Bittman Project is featuring three recipes from Pooja Bavishi's book, Malai:
Cold Coffee Milkshake: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/cold-coffee-milkshake/
Chocolate Cardamom Sauc...
Joseph Ogilvy on the Storied Fishing History of the California Coast
Joseph Ogilvy is the author of Tin Can Coast: A History of Industry, Greed, and Fishing in the Golden State. When Mark first saw the book, he exclaimed "Finally. At last!" The book is a history of the fisheries and fishing communities of the California Current, which is the ocean system that made the state of California: almost 2000 miles of the most productive waters on earth. Mark and Kate talked to Joe about how he went from chef to writer, why he felt the need to write such a comprehensive history, and a couple of the notable stories within.
...Jean-Georges Vongerichten on Watching New York Change
Mark has known Jean-Georges Vongerichten since 1987, when he arrived in New York. They've written books together. They've remained close friends for nearly 40 years. Today, they talk about Jean-Georges growing up in Alsace on pork fat, juniper berries, and parsley as the only herb anyone grew, and on arriving in New York when the Union Square Greenmarket was two stands selling apples and potatoes, and on watching the whole thing transform over four decades.
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A Conversation with Congressman McGovern: The Food System Isn't Broken — It's Working Exactly as Designed
Today, a special conversation Mark had in June with Congressman Jim McGovern (MA) at the Good Food for All Summit in DC. McGovern has spent decades in Congress fighting to protect SNAP, fund school meals, and push food security to the center of the policy conversation. He and Mark cover a lot of ground: why the food system isn't broken so much as designed, the difference between food rhetoric and actual food policy, what to make of the MAHA movement, the case for a Department of Food, and what Mark has been building with Community Kitchen.
Subs...
Hawa Hassan on Food, War, and Why Displacement Has a Flavor
We're bringing this one back. Hawa Hassan was born in Mogadishu, fled the Somali Civil War at four, spent time in a refugee camp in Kenya, and arrived alone in Seattle at age seven. She went on to win a James Beard Award and write two of the most distinctive cookbooks in recent memory. In this conversation, she and Mark and Kate talk about her book Setting a Place for Us, which travels to eight countries affected by conflict and asks what food means when everything else has been taken away. She talks about the visa crisis that nearly...
543 – In the South Seas
Zzz . . . Drift off to this snoozy reading of "In the South Seas" by Robert Louis Stevenson zzz
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Kevin Boehm on Living in his Car to Running 35 Restaurants
Kevin Boehm co-founded the Boka Restaurant Group nearly 25 years ago and now runs 35 restaurants across Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. He and his partner Rob Katz won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurateur in America. He also lived in his car, wrote a fake resume to get his first restaurant job, and spent two decades drinking heavily to manage bipolar disorder before getting sober. His memoir, The Bottomless Cup, covers all of it. Mark and Kate talk with Kevin about what hospitality actually means, how trauma shapes restaurant people, and the note slipped into his menu that c...
Dan Jacobs: Almost Winning Top Chef — and Why Milwaukee Is America’s Best Kept Secret
Dan Jacobs is the chef and co-owner of DanDan and EsterEv in Milwaukee, a runner-up on Season 21 of Top Chef, and one of the most quietly remarkable people to come on this show. In 2016, four months before opening his first restaurant, he was diagnosed with Kennedy's Disease, a rare neuromuscular condition often mistaken for ALS. He went on to compete on Top Chef eight years later anyway. Mark and Kate talk with Dan about navigating a progressive illness in a physical profession, why Milwaukee's restaurant scene might be the best kept secret in American food, the advocacy work that...
Shirley Chung: What Tongue Cancer Taught a Chef About Taste
Shirley Chung is a Top Chef finalist, French Laundry veteran and José Andrés darling. In 2024, she was diagnosed with stage four tongue cancer, and it changed her life. Shirley talks about the diagnosis she almost missed, the treatment that saved her tongue, and what it felt like to slowly, painstakingly relearn how to taste. Along the way: an unlikely connection with Grant Achatz, who went through the same thing 19 years earlier and became her north star through the worst of it. She would go on to helm Night Rooster, her modern Chinese restaurant in Dallas, which she opened du...
Toya Boudy Starts from Scratch
Toya Boudy is back. Since her debut cookbook came out in 2023, life has thrown a lot at her: divorce, her mother's health struggles, sobriety, and raising three kids. Her new book, Cooking from Scratch, is the result of all of it. Kate and Toya talk about rebuilding after everything falls apart, and about Malinda Russell, a free woman of color who published a cookbook in 1866 and packed it with everything her community might need to survive. Toya believes Russell came to her for a reason.
Check out all these incredible recipes from Toya's new book, Cooking f...
Father-Daughter Time with Al Roker and Courtney Roker Laga
The father-daughter duo talks to our father-daughter duo about their new cookbook and why it's special – and what it was like working on it together. Plus, Courtney's "recipe detective" journey and Al's take on The Morning Show – and Mark's on The Bear.
Get the recipe for Everything-Bagel and Lox Strata on The Bittman Project: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/everything-bagel-and-lox-strata/
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Laurie Woolever: Care and Feeding — and Everything in Between
We revisit Kate's conversation with the writer (and ex-Mario Batali employee and former assistant to Anthony Bourdain) Laurie Woolever, who talks about how (and if) kitchen culture has changed since the early-aughts heydey; why she never felt like a victim; her memoir, Care and Feeding; and how Anthony Bourdain put people at ease—and why people loved him so much.
Subscribe to Food with Mark Bittman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, and please help us grow by leaving us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts.
Follow Mark on Tw...
Hannah Goldfield: Drinking, Not Drinking, and the In Between
New Yorker writer Hannah Goldfield talks to Kate and Mark about "intentional drinking"; how, right now, it feels like everyone is taking a stance on where we land on the drinking spectrum; how bars and restaurants are making drinking (and not drinking) easier to navigate; and mini cocktails.
Read Hannah's recent piece, "The Age of 'Intentional' Drinking": https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/05/25/the-age-of-intentional-drinking
Subscribe to Food with Mark Bittman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, and please help us grow by leaving us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts.
...Just Call Her Paola ‘Blazing the Trail’ Velez
Baker Paola Velez talks to Kate and Holly about why and how she started Bakers Against Racism and how its influence and warmth has spread—and continues to spread; ad-libbing baked goods and feeling passionate about getting others confident enough in the kitchen to do it, too; and how romance played a factor in her career choice.
We've got recipes from Paola's book, Bodega Bakes!
Chocolate Malta Cake: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/chocolate-malta-cake/
PB&J Pots de Crème: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/pbj-pots-de-creme/
The Lemon Cookie: https://bittma...
Nasim Alikhani: Homestyle Iranian Food at Its Best
Revisiting our interview with Nasim Alikhani, the wildly popular Brooklyn-based chef, who talked to Kate and Mark about why the slow cook makes Iranian food special, the best way to enjoy a dinner party, and leaving Iran for the US in the 1980s.
Get Nasim Alikhani’s recipe for Date Scrambled Eggs on the Bittman Project:
https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/nasim-alikhanis-date-scrambled-eggs/
Subscribe to Food with Mark Bittman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, and please help us grow by leaving us a 5 star review on Apple Po...
Please Don’t Pigeonhole Alicia Kennedy
The prolific writer talks to Kate and Mark about why her mom told her not to learn how to cook (and how the kitchen is now her happy place), the big problem with mainstream veganism (and the food that ended her vegan journey), and using food and cooking to manage loss.
Subscribe to Food with Mark Bittman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, and please help us grow by leaving us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts.
Follow Mark on Twitter at @bittman, and on Facebook and Instagram at...
Alton Brown, Talking From the Can
In this revisiting of a 2025 episode, writer, chef, and TV star Alton Brown talks to Mark and Kate about fame, "then" and now; the problem with memory—and memoir; falling up the stairs; his farewell tour; and eating on the road, monastically.
Head to the Bittman Project for a special excerpt from Alton's collection of essays, Food for Thought: https://bittmanproject.com/alton-brown-meals-that-made-me-part-i/
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The Unique Complexities of Perennial Foods—and Why You Should Care
Liz Carlisle is an associate professor in the environmental studies program at UC Santa Barbara, Aubrey Streit Krug is the director of the Perennial Cultures Lab at the Land Institute, and Leah Penniman is an acclaimed activist and farmer who co-founded Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York. The three joined Kate and Mark to talk about why perennial foods should be seriously considered as part of the solution to the climate crisis; what real support for perennial agriculture would look like; and the changes they've seen in the young farming community in the past 30 years.
R...
Sheldon Simeon: Ohana Means Family
In this revisiting of a 2022 episode, Mark talks to beloved chef Sheldon Simeon about learning to butcher chickens in first grade, the divide between Hawaiian natives and tourists, and cooking for three days straight.
Sheldon's on Instagram: @chefwonder, and you can get a bunch of his recipes on the Bittman Project!
Shoyu Chicken: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/shoyu-chicken/
Loco Moco Gravy Rice: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/loco-moco-gravy-rice/
Mac Salad: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/sheldon-simeons-mac-salad/
Shoyu Dip with Sesame Crunch: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/shoyu-dip-with-sesame-crunch/
When Food (Truly) Has the Capacity to Heal
God's Love We Deliver CEO Terrence Meck and Northwell Health's chief experience officer Sven Gierlinger join Kate and Mark to talk about how they're feeding clients and patients (respectively) carefully, and well. The two chat about how their personal medical journeys got them to where they are today, how making and serving good food can actually save health care dollars, and how the emotion behind all of it can be the best part of the job.
Sven Gierlinger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/svengierlinger/
God's Love We Deliver: glwd.org, Instagram @godslovenyc
...
Approaches to Food Access: Dylan Alverson and Jason Finder
Dylan Alverson is the owner of Modern Times—now called Post Modern Times—in Minneapolis, a restaurant that stopped charging customers for food during the violent ICE occupation (and that will continue to be free). Jason Finder is the Executive Director of Good Food Works and Salad Days, which offers free grab & go salads to public spaces and high-need constituencies throughout New York City. The two joined Kate and Mark to talk about how they came to be passionate about food access and why what they're doing is working.
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Helen Veit: How, Exactly, Did Kids Become So Picky?
The historian and author of "Picky" talks to Kate and Mark about the history of "children's food," how pickiness is positioned at the intersection of biology and culture, generating a set of standards to get us back to a more pleasurable relationship with food (and why it'll feel counterintuitive), and the fear of parenting in "older ways" (and why people who are doing so tend to not talk about it).
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Ted Genoways: The Ongoing Saga of the JBS Beef Plant
Thousands of workers at the JBS beef plant in Greeley, Colorado, one of the largest US meatpacking facilities, have gone on strike over alleged unfair labor practices—the first major strike at a US beef slaughterhouse in 40 years. We're revisiting our conversation with journalist Ted Genoways, who last year reported on allegations of human trafficking at the JBS plant: the viral TikTok video that started it all, the thousands of Haitian migrants in the crosshairs, and how JBS' HR department saw it as a positive thing.
Want to listen to Ted's reporting on Greeley? You can do...
Omar Tate and Cybille St. Aude Tate: Assigning Meaning to Every Plate
The chefs, and owners of Philly's much-loved Honeysuckle, talk to Kate and Mark about how they personally define a "Black" dish; the two very distinct formats behind the food that typically represents the US Black diaspora; why their original business model didn't work and how they fixed it—and learned from it; and their big love story.
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In Which Mark Chats With Laura Linney
In this revisited episode, Mark talks to award-winning actress Laura Linney about fantastic female roles, the parallels between cooking and acting, and her memories of the iconic Truman Show.
Subscribe to Food with Mark Bittman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, and please help us grow by leaving us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts.
Follow Mark on Twitter at @bittman, and on Facebook and Instagram at @markbittman. Want more food content? Subscribe to The Bittman Project at www.bittmanproject.com.
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Arnold Myint: Writer, Chef, Dad, Gorgeous Drag Queen
The Nashville-based chef talks to Kate and Mark about how and why he finally feels recognized, how his drag has served as both a crutch and a hindrance—in the food world and elsewhere, and the priceless support he grew up with from his hippie parents (and why so much of what he does comes from that).
Read an excerpt—and get some recipes—from Arnold's book, Family Thai, on The Bittman Project: https://bittmanproject.com/my-way-or-the-thai-way/
Subscribe to Food with Mark Bittman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, and please...
Babes in Pod-Land: Samantha Irby and Lindy West
The supremely talented and charismatic writers talk to Kate about mail ordering fancy ice cream, the beauty of "store food," and watching hours and hours of TV together.
Get the recipe for Sam's Tuna Noodle Casserole: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/samantha-irbys-tuna-noodle-casserole/
Subscribe to Food with Mark Bittman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, and please help us grow by leaving us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts.
Follow Mark on Twitter at @bittman, and on Facebook and Instagram at @markbittman. Want more food content? Subscribe to T...
Jyoti and Auyon Mukharji: My Mother, My Masala
The mother and son duo—co-authors of Heartland Masala—talk to Kate and Mark about what it was like to tour to more than 40 cities together (and, specifically, why it was so wonderful); "mock" authenticity and further thoughts on the authenticity conversation in general, especially as it relates to second-generation immigrants; and "fusion" versus "traditional." Plus: deep thoughts about butter chicken.
Get Jyoti and Auyon's recipes for Masala Brussels Sprouts: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/masala-brussels-sprouts/
...and Narkol Cholar Daal (Split and Hulled Chickpeas with Coconut): https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/narkol-cholar-daal-split-and-hulled-chickpeas-with-coconut/
Subscrib...
Tom Colicchio Still Loves to Cook
The chef and activist talks to Kate and Mark about why, for the first time in 25 years, he's overhauling the menu at Craft; what makes a restaurant popular (even when it's not good); where all the good cooks have gone; and why he dislikes sous vide so much. Plus: some great cooking tips.
Subscribe to Food with Mark Bittman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, and please help us grow by leaving us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts.
Follow Mark on Twitter at @bittman, and on Facebook and...
Marion Nestle and Mark Digest the 2026 Dietary Guidelines
Food policy expert Marion Nestle chats with Mark about their initial reactions to the new dietary guidelines: what's good, what's bad, and what's disturbing. Plus: Is the current protein craze just a marketing scheme that's done particularly well for the marketers, or should we all be jumping on the bandwagon?
Subscribe to Food with Mark Bittman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, and please help us grow by leaving us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts.
Follow Mark on Twitter at @bittman, and on Facebook and Instagram at @markbittman...
Revisiting Kate's Conversation with Phoebe Robinson
The comedian talks to Kate about her show, Clash of the Cookbooks, and why we need more positive television; being a podcasting pioneer; the beauty of a good graze; and, for the first time, making content that her beloved niece and nephew are allowed to watch.
Subscribe to Food with Mark Bittman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, and please help us grow by leaving us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts.
Follow Mark on Twitter at @bittman, and on Facebook and Instagram at @markbittman. Want more food content...
Everybody Loves Kyle (MacLachlan)
In this revisiting of an excellent episode from 2022, the actor (and Tiktok's favorite dad) talks to Kate and Mark about his least favorite body part, go-to meals, and making cappuccinos for the cast of Blue Velvet. Plus: the question Mark's "been meaning to ask" him for 30 years.
Subscribe to Food with Mark Bittman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, and please help us grow by leaving us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts.
Follow Mark on Twitter at @bittman, and on Facebook and Instagram at @markbittman. Want more food...
Nancy Matsumoto: How Women Are Rebuilding the Food System
The James Beard Award-winning writer talks to Kate and guest co-host Kathleen Finlay about how women are uniquely equipped to tackle and repair our broken food system; why cooperation over competition is so effective; the constant throughline when talking with only female producers; and how you can support efforts—both as a buyer and as an activist.
Subscribe to Food with Mark Bittman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, and please help us grow by leaving us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts.
Follow Mark on Twitter at @bittman, an...
Lyndsay C. Green on Honoring Her Own Experiences
The Pulitzer finalist and James Beard award winning journalist talks to Kate and Mark about how restaurant critics have to "split themselves"; being "accidentally anonymous" and how she became comfortable with telling that story; chasing curiosity; and how she went from a born and bred New Yorker to loving Detroit.
Read Lyndsay's piece, "My year in review as Free Press restaurant critic: Accidentally anonymous," which was discussed in today's episode, at the Detroit Free Press:
https://tinyurl.com/f9cp9xpb
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