Men I'd Like To Be: Mark Bittman

Mark Bittman writes about food. Okay, I feel like thats a gross misrepresentation of what he does, although, in a nutshell, that is his job. Check out any of the "Minimalist" articles in the New York Times, and that is what you will find. He writes about food, and its simple.

I could leave it there, but there is more going on.

Mark Bittman embodies an aesthetic. Writing for the New York Times, you sort of know that you're getting a certain crowd of readers. I think of lots of Columbia educated Brads and Buffys in white sneakers, or older gentlemen in tweed jackets. Obviously, that is not the entire readership (and this is not going to be a diatribe on class), but I feel like its the readership to which the Times is geared.

What is so incredibly appealing about him in this environment is that he keeps everything simple. Its not about long lists of ingredients, its not about being fancy (or is it?... I'll get to all this later), its not about the pretense of fine foods. Rather, it is about simple elegance. Its about a certain lack of pretense.

That being said, he's not saying "take a can of chili and nuke it for a minute". He's using edamame, eggplant, pecorino romano (yum!), and seaweed. But its not overwhelming. Its three steps and maybe five ingredients to make something simple and delicious. It says "cooking isn't hard". There isn't a blueprint for the dish, as there are in most cooking articles or cookbooks. Rather, there is a general guideline. Not a road map, but a local's oral directions to your destination.

What made him stick out in my mind as the kind of person I'd like to be is found in a video on NYTimes.com. He's making an "impromptu"(!) vinaigrette, and is squeezing lemon juice. He looks up and says, and I'm paraphrasing, 'you dont need a strainer or anything to catch the seeds. Just squeeze the juice right through your hands. Its simple, and it works'. To me this says don't waste your time, don't waste your money, take a simple approach to things. In a sense, it is a moment in which the entirety of the Minimalist aesthetic unfolds.