Food with Mark Bittman

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 public matters to him. Mark talks about his own grandmother too. 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 . The Bittman Project is featuring three recipes from Justin Ellen's "Better Than Grandma's": Bread Pudding: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/bread-pudding/ Chocolate Cobbler: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/chocolate-cobbler/ Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/carrot-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Kellogg's original health food cereal was partly invented to stop people from . . . well, you'll see. Get an excerpt from Sugar Coated on The Bittman Project : https://bittmanproject.com/marion-nestle-sugar-coated/ Here's what Mark and Kate mentioned in today's podcast: Yeti carbon steel pan: https://yetius.pxf.io/PzgrMz 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 also has some thoughts on MAHA. Here's what Mark and Kate mentioned in today's podcast: Look What You Made Me Do, by John Lanchester: https://bookshop.org/a/18956/9781324131342 Whistler, by Ann Patchett: https://bookshop.org/a/18956/9780063511637 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Sauce: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/chocolate-cardamom-sauce/ Crunchy Ice Cream Balls: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/crunchy-ice-cream-balls/ Read more about Pooja on The Bittman Project: https://bittmanproject.com/q-and-a-with-pooja-bavishi/ 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Read an excerpt from Tin Can Coast on The Bittman Project : https://bittmanproject.com/industry-greed-and-fishing-in-the-golden-state/ Here's what was mentioned in today's podcast: Tin Can Coast: A History of Industry, Greed, and Fishing in the Golden State, by Joseph Ogilvy: https://bookshop.org/a/18956/9781639736812 Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck: https://bookshop.org/a/18956/9780140187373 Mark's Steamed Clams with Pasta: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/steamed-clams-with-pasta/ Sal's Place: https://www.salsplace.co/ 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 stranded her in Paris on the way to Kinshasa, the hug she found in Beirut when she expected hostility, and why she always goes looking for the best of a society, not the worst. The Bittman Project is featuring three recipes from Hawa Hassan's book, Setting a Place for Us: Rice Bread: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/rice-bread/ Fresco de Melon (Cantaloupe Juice, with or without rum): https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/fresco-de-melon/ Madesu (Stewed Red Beans): https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/madesu-stewed-red-beans/ 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 changed the way he thought about his career. Here's what was mentioned in today's podcast: The Bottomless Cup: A Memoir of Secrets, Restaurants, and Forgiveness , by Kevin Boehm: https://bookshop.org/a/18956/9781419775246 Pizza Spinello, Wellfleet, MA: https://www.pizzaspinello.com/ Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill: https://www.castlehill.org/ Salty Market, Truro, MA: https://thesaltymarket.com/ 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 came out of the pandemic, and what it means to build a team that actually takes care of each other. Also: sourdough pizza, cranberry bogs, and a brother who should never work a host stand. 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 during recovery. Join Shirley and Kate for this incredibly inspiring story. 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 from Scratch: Crispy Potato Salad: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/crispy-potato-salad/ African Spinach Stew: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/african-spinach-stew/ Plain Cake: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/plain-cake/ Homestyle White Beans: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/homestyle-white-beans/ Oyster Dip: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/oyster-dip/ Mini Crawfish Pies: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/mini-crawfish-pies/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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/ 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Twitter at @bittman, and on Facebook and Instagram at @markbittman. Want more food content? Subscribe to The Bittman Project at www.bittmanproject.com . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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://bittmanproject.com/recipe/the-lemon-cookie/ 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 @markbittman. Want more food content? Subscribe to The Bittman Project at www.bittmanproject.com . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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/ 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Read an excerpt of Liz and Aubrey's new book (featuring an essay by Leah), Living Roots: The Promise of Perennial Foods, on the Bittman Project: https://bittmanproject.com/living-roots/ Follow Leah on Instagram @leahpenniman and @soulfirefarm. 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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.