IF MY CULINARY HERO has long been Barefoot Contessa, this man is her new competition. Only new to me though. Mark Bittman has been a food columnist for decades, currently employed by an outfit called The New York Times.
Here, he speaks to something I’ve been trying not to hear for quite some time: we all eat too much meat, for the good of our bodies and our environment. Since one of my goals is teaching my kids how to eat well (in all regards), the message has finally sunk in. I’m on a hiatus from pork and beef for now, which means they are too. (Unfortunately so is my husband who responded to my musing about laying off four-legged meat products, “Wait, but I like pork and beef.”) We eat out a lot so don’t worry about Paul, but as for the rest of us, we haven’t missed it at all.
In an effort to boost protein and iron in other ways, we’re having more greens, more beans, more chicken–from grilled breasts to poached whole birds to ground meat for tacos–and more fish too. Phoebe seems thrilled with the introduction of tuna sandwiches, polishing off her half sandwich then looking up at me to ask for “More meat?” I’ve never heard someone refer to tuna as meat but I think we’re on to something here and wonder if Mr. Bittman would agree. (I realize tuna isn’t a perfect food, what with mercury concerns and over-fishing problems but we’re light consumers and also, you just can’t win ’em all. This blog is proof.)
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