Vegetarian Star

Food and opinion writer for the New York Times Mark Bittman serves as a good example of how to live as a flexitarian for those that do not shun all animal products, for whatever reasons.

His self-invented “vegan until six p.m.” program helped him lose weight, lower cholesterol and incorporate a variety of plant-based meals into his diet, such as this Chickpea Salad with Arugula.

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Mark Bittman is using his New York Times column to explore the possibility of taxing unhealthy food.

Bittman feels this is a way to get Americans to change their eating habits and hold companies accountable for producing products that contain harmful ingredients.

“Simply put: taxes would reduce consumption of unhealthful foods and generate billions of dollars annually,” Bittman writes in an article titled, “Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables.”

“That money could be used to subsidize the purchase of staple foods like seasonal greens, vegetables, whole grains, dried legumes and fruit.”

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Okay. So you’ve finally made the decision to change your eating habits because you know that daily burger isn’t doing anything for your health or the environment and the last farm sanctuary you visited made you want to freak your doberman out by introducing him to his latest animal housemate Mr. Pig.

Meatless Monday is a good start, but is the 4th of July holiday the best time to convert, considering there will be all those hot dogs, burgers and other meaty goods on the grill?

Mark Bittman recently explored this dilemma is his New York Times food column.

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“The principled diet, the diet that’s best for our health and that of the planet, is unquestionably veganism, or at least near-veganism, or a very very plant heavy diet, or “less-meatarianism” or whatever you want to call it: a diet of mostly plants, none or very few animal products, and certainly no junk or ultra-processed food (among which you could count industrially raised animal products), even if it is theoretically plant-based.”

–Mark Bittman, in his New York Times column where he lists several articles and essays by people who agree with him that meat just isn’t a necessary item on the plate. Links to Bittman’s suggested articles like The Case Against Meat by Ezra Klein and more are found on his blog.

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“I have to say, I’m pretty blown away by these apps. Over 2000 recipes, timers, menu tips, charts, handy illustrations. But this app is less about technology — it’s just a cookbook in a new form. It doesn’t change the way you cook. It changes the way you look at recipes.”

“For me, the real question is: does it bring more people to cooking? If it does, wonderful. If it doesn’t, maybe it’s just a fad. But it’s way too early to say. We need to give it another 5 years or so. Really give people a chance to figure out how to use these things in the kitchen. These apps have the potential to make people’s lives easier.”

–Mark Bittman, on his new How To Cook Everything Vegetarian app, now available from iTunes for $4.99. Can apps bring more people to the kitchen? They make it a lot easier to build a collection of recipes and books that offer cooking instructions without taking up shelves in the kitchen. In addition to Bittman’s app, don’t forget to check out other vegetarian and vegan cooking apps.

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After the successful launch of the How To Cook Everything app, Mark Bittman has released a similar app based on his completely meatless cookbook, How To Cook Everything Vegetarian.

Bittman is not only an established cookbook author, he’s also is a regular columinst for the New York Times who uses his platform to discuss issues on sustainable food, environment, health and animal welfare.

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“The problem is the system that enables cruelty and a lack not just of law enforcement but actual laws. Because the only federal laws governing animal cruelty apply to slaughterhouses, where animals may spend only minutes before being dispatched. None apply to farms, where animals are protected only by state laws.”

–Mark Bittman, in his New York Times food politics column about the animal cruelty discovered at E6 Cattle, a company that provides calves for the dairy industry. A video of the cruelty, which shows–among many acts–workers bludgeoning cows with pick axes, can be viewed here.

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Mario Batali is on board and ready to embrace a life with less meat. He’s observing Meatless Monday is his restaurants, has plans for a vegetarian cookbook and made one of his New Year’s resolutions for 2011 to learn to cook more vegetarian meals.

Making vegetables the center of his plate is how Batali lost a significant amount of weight and continues to maintain a lighter figure.

During one of Grubstreet’s regular “a week in the food life of [insert famous person],” Mario gave an an example of how he keeps Meatless Monday.

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