“You’re not going to succeed at stuff you don’t want to do.”
– Mark Bittman
Mark Bittman (@bittman) is the author of 20 acclaimed books, including the How to Cook Everything series, Food Matters, and his latest, How to Bake Everything — which is on a coveted shelf in my own kitchen.
For more than two decades, Mark’s popular and compelling stories appeared in The New York Times, where he was ultimately the Lead Food Writer for the Sunday Magazine. He became the country’s first food-focused op-ed columnist for a major news publication.
He starred in four TV series, including the Emmy Award-winning Years of Living Dangerously. He’s been a distinguished fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, a fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists, and was recently appointed to the faculty of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
Throughout his career, Mark has strived for the same goal: to make food and all of its aspects understandable — and he also extends that to a brand-new podcast called Get Bitt.
In this episode, we talk about:
- My fasting regimen
- Mark’s favorite failures and what he’s learned from them
- Mark’s first piece that broke him into the world of journalism
- And much, much more
Please enjoy this episode with Mark Bittman!
- Listen to it on iTunes.
- Stream by clicking here.
- Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
Want to hear another podcast with another entrepreneur that has built a career on a love of food? — Listen to my conversation with Andrew Zimmern. In this episode, we discuss his meditation practice, morning routines, and creative process (stream below or right-click here to download):
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QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
Selected Links from the Episode
- Connect with Mark Bittman:
Twitter | Website | Get Bitt Podcast
- How to Cook Everything: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food,10th Anniversary Edition by Mark Bittman
- Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes by Mark Bittman
- How to Bake Everything: Simple Recipes for the Best Baking by Mark Bittman
- Years of Living Dangerously
- What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir by Haruki Murakami
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- Books by Marcella Hazan
- Books by Julie Sahni
- iPhone headsets
- Electric shavers
- Dom’s favorite options for canned sardines: kingoscar.com and wildplanetfoods.com; Dom’s favorite canned oysters
- Abbott Precision Xtra Glucose Monitor
- Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss
- How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food by Mark Bittman
- How to Cook Everything The Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food by Mark Bittman
- How to Cook Everything Fast: A Better Way to Cook Great Food by Mark Bittman
- VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health…for Good by Mark Bittman
- Serial
- The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
- Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazen
Show Notes
- If Mark could give a TED Talk about something he’s passionate about but doesn’t rely on for his livelihood, what would he cover? [07:17]
- Why does Mark run? [08:18]
- What books (besides his own) has Mark gifted most? [10:23]
- What purchase of $100 or less has significantly influenced Mark’s life? [11:32]
- Why did Mark recently give up Amazon Prime? [12:20]
- Some people talk tuna. We talk sardines. [14:21]
- I ask Mark if he’s ever experimented with fasting, and I lay out some of its potential benefits. [16:51]
- I explain to Mark how I fast without losing muscle tissue. [19:09]
- What does Mark’s routine look like before a book deadline? [25:15]
- Mark’s typical writing day. [27:16]
- How has failure set Mark up for later success? [31:52]
- Before he started writing professionally, Mark sold photo equipment. Did any of those sales skills translate to selling his own work? [37:04]
- Mark explains his mantra. [38:27]
- What advice does Mark wish he’d received when he was younger? [40:27]
- Where would Mark be today if he’d followed the advice of others instead of following his own path? [42:48]
- What advice does Mark think his 80-year-old self would give to him now? [45:39]
- What does Mark mean when he says, “don’t write things off too quickly?” [46:51]
- Mark tells us why he’s starting a podcast. [48:32]
- Mark explains his interview style. [52:48]
- What makes baking fun? [56:39]
- Using the 704 pages of How to Bake Everything as a reference, where would Mark recommend a beginner start baking? [59:30]
- Farewells and parting thoughts. [1:03:53]