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Mark Bittman’s Secret to Healthy Aging Isn’t Complicated
In ‘How to Cook Everything Vegan,’ the food writer makes a case for eating more plants
6-minute read
VIDEO: Mark Bittman: Stop Chasing Food Trends and Start Cooking
AARP (Burcu Avsar and Zach DeSart/Courtesy HarperCollins; HarperCollins)
If the phrase plant-based makes you think of joyless salads and giving up your favorite foods, Mark Bittman would like a word. In his new cookbook, How to Cook Everything Vegan, the bestselling author serves up hundreds of recipes for pizzas, pastas, burgers, desserts and more, all built around nutrient-dense ingredients.
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And just to show how accessible eating vegan can be, he includes a list of ingredients in his book, most of which you probably already have.
“How to Cook Everything Vegan” offers approachable recipes for putting more plants on the menu.
Courtesy HarperCollins
Cook Plant-Forward With Mark Bittman
The journalist and author shares a trio of recipes from How to Cook Everything Vegan for AARP readers to try at home.
A classic burger gets made over into a meat-free version with plenty of fiber-rich beans, rolled oats and spices.
Paella With Lots of Vegetables
This veggie-laden, rice-based dish is hearty enough to carry an entire meal, and it comes together in just an hour.
Classic Italian potato-based dumplings make the perfect filling for your favorite sauce.
Bittman, 76, isn’t a strict vegan himself, but he has spent nearly two decades eating fewer animal products. He’s convinced that putting more plants on your plate can be both satisfying and good for long-term health.
“I’m not a vegan. I don’t care whether anyone else is a vegan,” he says. “I just think everyone is looking for ways to cook more plants, and this book has ways to cook more plants.”
The recipes in How to Cook Everything Vegan focus heavily on flavor. For example, his Cold (or Hot) Cream Sauce uses silken tofu as the foundation, resulting in a smooth, versatile base for herb, miso or chipotle sauces. And his quick Drizzle Sauce is just olive oil, onion or shallot, lemon, and salt and pepper — easy to whip up and to build on.
“If you prioritize plants, especially the seasonal ones, your cooking palette becomes colorful, beautiful, healthful and full of cooking potential,” he writes in the book’s introduction. “And the ways animal products can be used in supporting roles — not as the center of the plate or even of the meal.”
A new cookbook isn’t the only thing Bittman’s got on his plate.
He spearheads The Bittman Project, a subscription website that pairs recipes and cooking advice with reporting and commentary on food-related issues. He also hosts the podcast Food With Mark Bittman with his oldest daughter, Kate.
AARP spoke with Bittman via video from his New York home to learn more about his latest cookbook.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
What do you think is the biggest misconception about vegan cooking?
That you’re either vegan or you’re not. I think the biggest turnoff is that you use the word vegan and many people go, “I don’t want to be one of those people.” I don’t want to be one of those people either! But those people have something going for them: They eat tons of plant-based food.
You emphasize cooking from scratch. How do you balance convenience with cooking well?
That’s an age-old question for me. I started writing about that particular question 40 years ago. I argued that if you cook simple food, it’s just as convenient as ordering takeout. And I have to say, things have changed. That’s a really hard argument to make right now, because takeout has gotten so much better. The temptation to not cook at home is huge. But the more you cook for yourself, stock your pantry and feed yourself at home, the better off you’re going to be.
What role can a more plant-forward diet play in healthy aging and longevity?
We don’t even know all the benefits of eating plants. The old trope of “eat a variety of foods, don’t eat too much of anything, everything in moderation” still holds true. The difference between what we’re saying now and what we said 20 or 40 years ago, for example, is basically you should be eating more plants, and you should be eating them as close to their natural form as possible. We should be eating less junk food. You should be eating fewer animal products. Those three rules summarize just about everything. Think of it this way: The way I eat now will impact who I am 20 years from now.
How has your thinking about eating evolved as you’ve gotten older?
I practice what I preach. I started part-time veganism in 2007 at the advice of a doctor friend of mine, because all of my numbers were going in the wrong direction. He said, “I could give you a bunch of drugs, but why don’t you try becoming a vegan?” I said, “I’m not going to become a vegan.” He said, “You’re a smart guy. Figure something out.” So I decided to become a part-time vegan, and I just increased the level of plants in my diet. I probably eliminated three-quarters of the animal products from my diet and replaced them with plants.
In 2007, you said that you were a vegan until 6 p.m. Do you still practice that?
That was what I did then. I wrote a book called VB6: Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health ... for Good, and the philosophy was to eat like a maniac vegan until 6 o’clock, then do whatever you want. I’ve come to see that as part of a general movement toward becoming a part-time vegan, which means being a full-time omnivore who focuses on plants. The idea is to shift the balance in your diet toward plants and away from everything else.
For older adults, are there any particular nutrients that they should focus on?
I do not think you should be eating protein all the time. I think part of this protein craze is an excuse to eat meat. Most people get enough protein, and it’s worth remembering that all food, including even lettuce, contains protein. The other really important nutrient people don’t get enough of is fiber, especially older people. It’s a really important nutrient that is happily supplied by many plants. The highest foods in fiber are whole grains and legumes, and the lowest foods in fiber are animal products. There’s another good reason to eat more plants!
You’ve spent your career encouraging people to cook. Why is cooking such an important life skill, and would you say that it’s never too late to learn?
You can learn it in your 80s. It’s not a talent. It’s a skill or a craft. It’s something you can learn how to do. It’s way easier than learning how to play guitar. I can say that, as someone who’s attempted to learn how to play guitar. Start with what you like. If you really like to eat lobster, then learn how to cook lobster. I learned how to cook from cookbooks. No one showed me how to do it.
What’s the one pantry ingredient you can’t live without?
There are 50 pantry ingredients I can’t live without! You’ve got to have olive oil. You’ve got to have vinegar and soy sauce. Obviously, you have a good assortment of spices and herbs. You need some grains. You need flour and things like that.
How often do you eat at restaurants?
I don’t go much. I eat breakfast and lunch at home almost every day. If I go out, it’s more for social reasons than for the food, and I get annoyed by how expensive it is and by the fact that my cooking is better than theirs. I really do like to cook, so it doesn’t feel oppressive to me to stop whatever it is I’m doing at 5 or 6 o’clock and start cooking dinner. I put on some music and start pulling things out of the refrigerator. To me, it’s not a chore; it’s a pleasant part of my day.
Tell us about Community Kitchen, your sliding-scale restaurant in New York City.
The idea behind it was a question: What is good food? The answer is that good food is sourced well by farmers who treat the land right, treat the food right and treat their workers right. It’s plant-based or plant-forward because we know that’s what’s best for us. It costs a lot. So how do you get that kind of food into the hands of people who don’t have a lot of money? You do it on a sliding scale. I didn’t invent that kind of restaurant. We raised enough money to run a three-month pilot last year, and we served nearly 2,000 meals at three payment levels: $15, $45 and $125, and everyone got the same meal. We are looking for a permanent home. We’re going to try to do this restaurant on a long-term, full-time basis.
Which fictional restaurant would you rather work in as a chef: the one from The Bear or the one from Ratatouille?
I just can’t watch TV about food or movies about food. It makes me crazy! I tried to watch The Bear. Couldn’t do it.
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