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Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes Paperback – December 29, 2009
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We are finally starting to acknowledge the threat carbon emissions pose to our ozone layer, but few people have focused on the extent to which our consumption of meat contributes to global warming. Think about it this way: In terms of energy consumption, serving a typical family-of-four steak dinner is the rough equivalent of driving around in an SUV for three hours while leaving all the lights on at home.
Bittman offers a no-nonsense rundown on how government policy, big business marketing, and global economics influence what we choose to put on the table each evening. He demystifies buzzwords like “organic,” “sustainable,” and “local” and offers straightforward, budget-conscious advice that will help you make small changes that will shrink your carbon footprint—and your waistline.
Flexible, simple, and non-doctrinaire, the plan is based on hard science but gives you plenty of leeway to tailor your food choices to your lifestyle, schedule, and level of commitment. Bittman, a food writer who loves to eat and eats out frequently, lost thirty-five pounds and saw marked improvement in his blood levels by simply cutting meat and processed foods out of two of his three daily meals. But the simple truth, as he points out, is that as long as you eat more vegetables and whole grains, the result will be better health for you and for the world in which we live.
Unlike most things that are virtuous and healthful, Bittman's plan doesn't involve sacrifice. From Spinach and Sweet Potato Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing to Breakfast Bread Pudding, the recipes in Food Matters are flavorful and sophisticated. A month's worth of meal plans shows you how Bittman chooses to eat and offers proof of how satisfying a mindful and responsible diet can be. Cheaper, healthier, and socially sound, Food Matters represents the future of American eating.
- Print length336 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSimon & Schuster
- Publication dateDecember 29, 2009
- Dimensions6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
- ISBN-101416575650
- ISBN-13978-1416575658
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Editorial Reviews
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"[Bittman] reports his own passionate belief in agricultural sustainability and slow food, and he touts a new diet that not only offers guilt-free pleasure but also makes Americans look as good as the beautiful people he hangs out with. His prescription: become aware of where food comes from; choose foods intelligently; pay attention to broad, inclusive nutritional principles; balance intake and exercise; snack judiciously; and make sure that whatever one eats, it’s as attractive to the palate as it is to the waistline. Bittman’s fame will generate lots of attention, and his commonsense advice, while not new, bears the hallmarks of contemporary nutritional wisdom." -- Mark Knoblauch ― Booklist
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (December 29, 2009)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1416575650
- ISBN-13 : 978-1416575658
- Item Weight : 15.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,175,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #554 in Vegetarian Diets (Books)
- #2,533 in Environmental Science (Books)
- #7,292 in Other Diet Books
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author

Mark Bittman is the author of thirty acclaimed books, including the How to Cook Everything series, the award-winning Food Matters, and the New York Times number-one bestseller VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00. For more than two decades his popular and compelling stories appeared in the New York Times, where he was ultimately the lead food writer for the Sunday magazine and became the country’s first food-focused Op-Ed columnist for a major news publication. Bittman has starred in four television series, including Showtime’s Emmy-winning Years of Living Dangerously. He has written for nearly every major newspaper and magazine in the United States, and has spoken at dozens of universities and conferences. His 2007 TED talk has more than four million views; in 2015 he was a distinguished fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently teaching at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, editing Heated, an online food magazine, and writing a book about understanding food. He can be found at markbittman.com, heated.medium.com, @bittman on Twitter, and @markbittman on Instagram.
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Another great book for beginning cooks who are interested in vegetarian recipes is the Moosewood Restaurant cookbook, Cooking for Health, by the Moosewood Collective. As in Bittman's book, the authors assume you are a beginner, and explain cooking methods, types of grains and spices, and how eggs figure into healthy eating. My brother-in-law, the lover of rare roast beef, was so taken with the meal I prepared featuring root vegetables, that he asked for the recipe.
I like Bittman's approach to recipes. He provides a basic recipes and then a few ways to spice things up - so to speak. It is a practical approach to cooking that follows my own approach--read a few recipes, see what the basic recipe is, see what variations can be done and then pick and chose. This approach usually requires some knowledge of spices and cooking--but Bittman makes that easy by providing the basics and a few variations to get you started.
I think it is a pretty darn good book. Hope that this helps.
the flexitarian philosophy is an easy-to-implement lifestyle that helps health, the earth, and your pocketbook! what's not to love?! i had started reducing my meat intake for a few months before i got this book - would skip the meat for a meal or two a week, but now i'm the opposite. i now eat vegetarian for breakfast and lunch and for at least half my dinners. when i do eat meat at home, i have considerably reduced the amount of meat in my dishes - for example, i might put 4 ounces of ground turkey in a batch of marinara sauce where the recipe calls for a pound. this has worked really well for me and i've even brought my midwestern down-home meat-eating boyfriend around on the lifestyle -- he now eats veggie rice and beans for lunch. it's cheaper and delicious! i hope you enjoy learning about this lifestyle as much as i have. it also turned me on to a bunch of food documentaries that basically support this same conclusion. very interesting.
i only gave this 4 starts because i didn't personally get a whole lot from the recipes part of the book, which is like half of it, but i could see that being really helpful for people. i just am not big on following recipes. gave me some ideas for ingredients though!
As for the book itself, it wasn't new information to me, but was well presented and entertaining to read. I am delighted that a well-known food writer like Bittman is trying to get Americans to eat a more wholesome and ecological diet. I have only tried one recipe so far, and thought it was quite tasty.
Top reviews from other countries
I've recently changed the way I eat, and this book compliments it very well. It gives good insight to non healthy foods and obviously healthy foods. Fantastic recipes.
This book is a must for anyone wanting to change their eating habits
Ich hatte mir etwas mehr neue Informationen zum Theme Mehrwert pflanzlicher Ernährung versprochen. Das Buch git zwar Infos zum Einfluss tierischer Ernährung auf Klima etc., jeoch wird jemand der sich mit dem Thema zuvor schon etwas beschäfftigt hat, hier keine neuen Informationen finden.
Alles in allem ein gutes Buch um erste Eindrücke zu erlangen.
In relativ einfachem und unwissenschaftlichem Englisch geschrieben und somit einfach zu lesen.





