In this book is some of the best work I’ve ever done, and it’s largely thanks to the generosity of others. The synthesis of thoughts is generally my own, but the stuff of those thoughts comes from elsewhere. Much of that is in print, but a great deal of it comes from conversation. It’s the people I talk with and work with that really informs my columns.
I will inevitably miss some people here, because in the course of a given week I probably speak with a dozen people about my column, some more formally than others. But in general they fall into three groups, those inside the New York Times (or formerly so); those in the food, academic, agricultural, government, and other worlds; and those in my personal life.
Thanks to all of you.
At the Times: Lawrence Downes, Andy Rosenthal, David Shipley, George Kalogerakis, Bill Keller, Chris Conway, Rick Berke, Laura Chang, Erika Goode, Sewell Chang, Roberta Zeff, Honor Jones, John Guida, Jennifer Mascia, Lydia Dallett, and especially Trish Hall and Kelly Doe.
In the world at large: This is impossible, really—there are a thousand people to thank here. But I’ve been guided and advised most by Ricardo Salvador, Michael Pollan, and Marion Nestle. Also super-helpful over the years have been David Ludwig, Gary Taubes, Laura Rogers, Jenny Powers, Wendell Berry, Mark Arax, Bill Niman, Chellie Pingree, Paul Shapiro, Raj Patel, Mike Licht. There are more, a thousand more…
In my “real” life: Pam Krauss, Angela Miller, Trish Hall, Kate Bittman, Emma Baar-Bittman, Gertrude Bittman, and Kelly Doe.
—MARK BITTMAN
NEW YORK, JANUARY 2015