Food doesn’t just keep us alive—it’s a vital and constantly evolving part of our global culture. Author and food journalist Mark Bittman’s new book, Animal, Vegetable, Junk, digs into the history of what, why, and how we eat. He’ll be joined by chef and author Alice Waters for a conversation about everything from slow versus fast food to regenerative agriculture to how we teach future generations to eat. Waters’s forthcoming book, We Are What We Eat, will be published in June. Their hour-long discussion will be moderated by Alta Journal editor and publisher Will Hearst.
About the guests:
Mark Bittman has been a leading voice in global food culture and policy for more than three decades. His first cookbook, Fish: The Complete Guide to Buying and Cooking, was published in 1994 and remains in print; since then, he has written or cowritten 30 others, including the How to Cook Everything series. A former New York Times columnist, television host, and regular on Today, Bittman has received six James Beard Awards, four IACP Awards, and numerous other honors.
Bittman is also the editor in chief of the Bittman Project, a newsletter and website focusing on all aspects of food, from political to delicious. His most recent book is Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal.
Alice Waters is a chef, an author, a food activist, and the founder and owner of Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California (est. 1971). She has been a champion of local sustainable agriculture for over four decades. In 1995, she founded the Edible Schoolyard Project, which advocates for a free regenerative school lunch for all children and a sustainable-food curriculum in every public school.
In 2015, Waters was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama, proving that eating is a political act and that the table is a powerful means to advancing social justice and positive change. She is the author of 16 books, including her critically acclaimed memoir, Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook; The Art of Simple Food; The Art of Simple Food II; and Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea. Her latest work, We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto, will be available in June 2021.•
Houghton Mifflin Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal by Mark Bittman
Houghton Mifflin Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal by Mark Bittman
Penguin Press We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto by Alice Waters
