Plant-Based Advocate Mark Bittman Starts a New Chapter

Food journalist Mark Bittman has recently left the New York Times to work full-time for the plant-based startup Purple Carrot.

Mark Bittman helped pioneer the reducetarian movement with his book VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health… for Good. Perhaps more than anything before it, VB6 popularized the idea that you don’t have to give up meat entirely to enjoy the benefits of a plant-based diet. At the Times, Bittman wrote The Minimalist cooking column for thirteen years and then, in a weekly opinion column, he raised awareness about the failures of our food system and the implications of our dietary choices. Now, he's decided it's time for a change, and in a thoughtful farewell article, he explains that he is leaving “to do what [he's] been writing about these many years: to make it easier for people to eat more plants.”

Purple Carrot delivers ready-to-cook vegan meals by mail. Its mission is to make it easier for people to eat less meat, whether that’s for a few meals a week or all the time. Bittman designs the menu and advises on ethical issues such as sustainable sourcing, low-waste packaging, and fair labor practices. There’s no telling what this reducetarian will cook up next.

Written by Cameron Meyer Shorb