A Bone to Pick: The good and bad news about food, with wisdom and advice on diets, food safety, GMOs, farming, and more

by Mark Bittman

Since his New York Times op-ed column debuted in 2011, Mark Bittman has emerged as one of our most impassioned and opinionated observers of the food landscape. The Times’ only dedicated opinion columnist covering the food beat, Bittman routinely makes readers think twice about how the food we eat is produced, distributed, and cooked, and shines a bright light on the profound impact that diet—both good and bad—can have on our health and that of the planet. In A Bone to Pick, Mark’s most memorable and thought-provoking columns are compiled into a single volume for the first time. As abundant and safe as the American food supply appears to be, the state of our health reveals the presence of staggering deficiencies in both the system that produces food and the forces that regulate it. Bittman leaves no issue unexamined; agricultural practices, government legislation, fad diets, and corporate greed all come under scrutiny and show that the issues governing what ends up in our market basket and on our tables are both complex and often deliberately confusing. Unabashedly opinionated and invariably thought provoking, Bittman’s columns have helped readers decipher arcane policy, unpack scientific studies, and deflate affronts to common sense when it comes to determining what “eating well” truly means. As urgent as the situation is, Mark contends that we can be optimistic about the future of our food and its impact on our health, as slow-food movements, better school-lunch programs, and even “healthy fast food” become part of the norm. At once inspiring, enraging, and enlightening, A Bone to Pick is an essential resource for every reader eager to understand not only the complexities inherent in the American food system, but also the many opportunities that exist to improve it.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, Health, Essays, Audiobook, Cooking, Politics

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 5, 2015

About the author

MARK BITTMAN is one of the country's best-known and most widely respected food writers. His How to Cook Everything books, with one million copies in print, are a mainstay of the modern kitchen. Bittman writes for the Opinion section of New York Times on food policy and cooking, and is a columnist for the New York Times Magazine. His "The Minimalist" cooking show, based on his popular NYT column, can be seen on the Cooking Channel. His most recent book, VB6, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in its first week on sale.

Reviews

[Shelby *trains flying monkeys* · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's my own fault but I didn't realize this book was just a compilation of Mark Bittman's previous article's. Most of which I had already read. I am a Bittman fangirl what can I say?

I do prefer his other book Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes to this one. It's easier to understand and the flow is much better in this foodie's opinion.

There is one passage in this one I really liked.
Suspect conclusions derived from suspect studies are increasingly common, including recent examples: having a poor sense of smell might be linked to being a psychopath. People who read food labels are thinner.
I could have debunked those myths myself. I have a great sense of smell. My husband bitches all the time about my whining about something stinky. (I'm kidding you trollers)
And reading food labels. It takes us forever to go to the store because I'm completely OCD about it...and guess what? Still fat.

Book source: Netgalley in exchange for review.

[Donna Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF early. I just couldn’t take his superior tone. So patronizing.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depressingly well-researched. I'll never eat again.

[Corinna Fabre · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s an understatement to say that I’ve caught the food bug recently (no, not the gross kind) – after being diagnosed with Celiac more than a year ago, food has taken on a whole new meaning. It is no longer just something I binge on. Something that makes me sick. Something that could make a moment. Or ruin a day. It is something that fuels me, has a story to tell and a cause to fight for.

Reading Mark Bittman’s A Bone to Pick served to fuel that fire. It wasn’t uncommon for me to come home nights after work, having read on the bus to and from my job, and start my evening off by spouting off a whole new slew of disturbing facts I’d read in the book. I think what struck me most was that – yes, I found many of the facts shocking but the general feel is something I’d become accustomed to in my other reading on the subject – but when I told my husband about them, he often responded simply, “No, that can’t be right.” That’s how dire our situation is; it seems so ridiculous that it’s easier to believe that it can’t be true than it can. Each of Bittman’s essays serves to address a particular facet of the subject and hammer away the simple solutions: Eat less meat. Eat more vegetables. Eat more whole food. Support human and animal rights.

This book shook me to my core but I do have a few bones to pick (couldn’t help it!): by the end, the essays became a bit repetitive. I get that this was a selection of the best of the best essays, many of them overlapped so heavily that it became a little exhausting. That being said, it does help effectively hammer home the message which may be just what the cause needs. This is a stupid thing to nitpick but it also bothered me that he considered his diet “vegan” before 4 when it really sounds like vegetarian (clearly this was a good book if I have to dig that deep for issues I have).

When I say this book shook me I don’t mean just…ambiguously. I mean that both my husband and I are now partaking in Meatless Mondays, I’m trying to eat vegetarian before 4 and I’m actively taking steps to change out the food in our how to remove processed junk. And like Bittman points out, it’s not about being perfect; it’s about trying, it’s about being aware, it’s about taking a stand when and where you can and it’s about enjoying awesome food.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is a good book to listen to while driving because when traffic makes you lose focus for a moment, it is no problem since you can be certain the same point will be made at least a dozen more times.

[Georgette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of Bittman's columns about the food industry, our perceptions and misconceptions of food, dietary wisdom, regulations in the food industry, GMO's, agriculture, the effects of global warming on the food industry, the FDA.
In short, no end to what he's written about. I'm a fan of his normally, but more so after finishing this, because he lays it out for us in no uncertain terms. It may be a bit much for those who don't often read non-fiction, or aren't used to so many statistics in one place, but if you like food, care about food, and care about what's going on behind the smoke and mirrors operation known as the FDA, well, you should read this collection.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I wanted waxy rhetoric, I would have re-read Michael Pollen's books. I was hoping for something a bit more practical from Bittman, but I suppose that was foolish on my part.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was familiar with Mark Bittman and love a good food-related book, but I was pretty disappointed with this one. It's basically a collection of Bittman's food columns from The New York Times organized into 6 sections. While a lot of his writing makes good points, I just don't agree with his fundamental food beliefs. He goes on and on AND ON about how useless and terrible the USDA and FDA are at regulating our food system, then in the next breath he talks about how we NEED legislation to fix this corrupt and broken food system. So, where exactly are we going to find these un-corruptible legislatures to make everything great for everyone? I COMPLETELY agree with the fact that our food system is horrible and the government agencies supposedly responsible for it useless, but I'm on the Joel Salatin team of opting out of that shit. When you grow your own food and buy most of the rest from local farmers you KNOW there is no need for the government to get involved. He also talks a LOT about "changing" food/farming subsidies from supporting industrial monoculture and giving them to smaller farmers and even subsidies for people to cook at home - seriously?! Joel Salatin, Forrest Pritchard, and many, many others prove that you don't need government subsidies to be a successful farmer who can support yourself and others financially. So, since I just do NOT agree with his basic views I just wouldn't recommend this book. There are many other MUCH better food/farming/cooking books out there!

Here are some quotes I particularly did NOT agree with:

"Encourage and subsidize home cooking...We should provide food education for children (a new form of home ec, anyone?), cooking classes for anyone who wants them, and even cooking assistance for those unable to cook for themselves." (p. xiv) - Subsidize home cooking - WTF?!

[In speaking about New York's mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's proposed ban on the sale of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB's) over one pint (16 ounces).] "The arguments against this ban mostly came from the 'right.' (There actually is no right and left here, only right and wrong.) (p. 74) - So basically he's saying if you disagree with Bloomberg's soda ban you're WRONG!

"Preventing chronic diseases - for the first time in history responsible for the majority of deaths - would not require massive public works programs like building water delivery or sewer systems but simply regulating the quality of our food and the quantity of nonfood we allow ourselves in ingest. It is not a matter of technology or of miracles, but of policy. Minor inconveniences and infringements that benefit everyone - like seat belts, gun control, and limiting our 'right' to smoke or drink - should take precedence over our 'right' to kill ourselves and one another." (p. 155) - "minor inconveniences" like not being able to decide what I want to eat or drink and buy with my own money!

"For all of the personal choices (like cooking, or supporting responsible farming) that can have a positive impact [on] our food system, the kinds of sweeping changes that many of us hope to see can't be accomplished without decisive action at the top. Whether we know it or not, federal and local governments, which are all too often beholden to special interests, are largely responsible for deciding what we eat, because they refuse to restrict the behavior of producers and marketers, who then infallibly choose the most profitable - not the most healthful or even least destructive - paths...While attempts to regulate our food choices are often decried as 'nanny-statism,' the consequences of insufficient (or misguided) government intervention are significant." (p. 189) - Does anyone else see the contradiction here?! The government is in the industrial food system's pocket and have f*%ked up the food system, but we need more government involvement to fix it - that sounds like a great plan to make things EVEN WORSE.

[Dana Clinton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Bittman is my go-to person when faced with how to cook something (I have his culinary "bible" How To Cook Everything) and like his outlooks, so this book, A Bone To Pick, was an easy read which just reinforced much I already felt about our American food reality and the SAD (Standard American Diet). The book is just a compilation of many of the op-ed articles he had previously published in the New York Times, but I had not read them before. There is enormous crossover (thus repetition), but being able to read in small batches of 2-4 pages just helped my focus on the various messages. Here is a paragraph that could be a header for all his arguments: "Let's encourage people to eat real food, which for most people will mean eating better. This is affordable for nearly everyone in the United States. For most people, eating better is mostly about will and skill. Those are not small items, but they're much more easily dealt with than changing industrial agriculture. Yes, there are people who are too poor to eat real food; but that's an issue of justice, the right to food, and fair wages -- not of whether the food is organic." So these articles go way beyond identifying "real" food and are quite political in scope, all of which I agree with, but he is also a realist and not a "hard-liner". He exposes all the horrors of industrial agriculture, of the hyper-processed junk too many people rely on, to the detriment of their health, the health of the planet, the cruelty towards animals raised just to sustain bad food. But he remains an optimist in the sense that education has a great role to play and that individuals can advocate for themselves as well as be a growing force for change. Oh, and it surely has helped my focus on eating well and intelligently!

[Virginia Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mark Bittman is one of America's best-known food writers. He is probably better known for his books, "How To Cook Everything" and for his op-ed pieces that have appeared in newspapers like The New York Times and The New York Times Magazine.

I recently read his latest offering, A Bone To Pick, The good and bad news about food, with wisdom and advice on diets, food safety, GMOs, farming, and more. Each chapter stands alone, so they can be read in any order you choose. Each chapter also was originally an op-ed piece so the style fits that format better than a normal book.

The information in each chapter though is spot on and very good. The book is incredibly well written. It is very clear that Mr. Bittman is knowledgeable about this subject.

I, personally, found the book a little like eating a dry, plain saltine cracker. There wasn't a lot of personal stories and anecdotes. It was, in the words of Sergent Joe Friday, "Just the facts." There is nothing wrong with that, I just found the book a little hard to get into and read.

My favorite chapter has to be the one in which he talks about comfort food. This chapter stands out in stark contrast to my thoughts on the rest of the book. It is full personal ancedotes, is more a slice of bread, fresh from the oven and slathered thickly with fresh butter.

I give this book 3.5 out of 5 turning pages. If you're anything like me, and enjoy reading and learning about all things foods, you should get a copy of his book and read it for yourself. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I received a free copy of this book for the purpose of review from Blogging For Books. All opinions are my own.

[Allyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Mark Bittman and truly miss his NYT column so this book was perfect for me. It is essentially a collection of his articles, essays, columns and covers every aspect of the world of food. Nutrition, wages, animal welfare, etc. It's classic Bittman: information presented in a succinct yet broad manner that is appropriate for everyone yet eye opening enough for those who are already well versed in the subject. I hope he comes back to writing soon.

[Pauline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting this book to be filled with short essay/opinion pieces. I do generally agree with Mark Bittman on a lot of points, but too many parts of this book felt like straight-up rhetoric. I was expecting more of an in-depth research about the state of our food system.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author M Bittman, has taken the time to place his previous articles into a book form. He will scare the reader about the food we eat-food safety, GMO'S, etc. Take some time and read this book!

[ELIZABETH TIERNEY · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize it's a collection of his articles. No harm in that -- just be forewarned, if you read him frequently. A good skim therefore.

[Kendall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays largely written between 2008 and 2014, so in one sense it's doubly irrelevant, thanks to, well, present day, and the last presidential election. But it's what I picked off the shelf shortly before the libraries closed, so...

Some of it did feel like ancient history, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that some of it felt dated because we've already made progress in some arenas (no doubt partially thanks to journalists like Bittman writing about these topics and putting them in the limelight). In one of the closing essays, Bittman notes that farm subsidies, aka something that has had profound impacts on agriculture and nutrition in this country, were created in an attempt to ameliorate the effects of the Great Depression. Not to be too Pollyanna-ish, but reading that in March 2020 gives me hope that as we come out on the other side of this and transformational change is inevitable, some of it may lead to food system developments that are more positive this time around. He also points out that issues around food access, and access to suitable kitchens and cooking equipment, are "justice issues, not food issues... they serve to point out that when you address food issues seriously, you must also address broader, systemic issues like those of inequality." As this virus is making scarily, painfully clear, a society is only as healthy - in every sense of the word - as its most vulnerable members.

Mark Bittman can come across as condescending and curmudgeonly (and some of the crutches he falls back on in his writing - Snackwells, anyone?! - become abundantly clear when reading a compilation), but he's done a lot to get the word out about public health and food, and for that he deserves credit where credit is due.

[Sean Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's probably necessary to qualify my 4* rating here. Bittman's book does not so much flow with insight or advice or thought-provoking discourse so much as it throws jab after thoughtful (and opinionated) jab at Big Food, Big Ag, and the "standard" North American diet in general. There are several points he makes repeatedly that one really can't argue with (not intelligently at least):

1. We need to eat less processed food
2. We need to stop giving prophylactic antibiotics to animals
3. North Americans eating habits are dooming their own health, that of the environment, and (arguably) that of the economy (long argument here but certainly plausible)
4. It is possible with MINIMAL EFFORT to make some changes at an individual level and at industry levels, but governments and lawmakers just might need to provide some initiative to do so (sadly).
5. Michael Pollan rides again: "Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much."

Anyone who is interested in the interaction between our consumption habits, the food industry, and healthcare should give this series of essays a read. The compilation of Bittman's work is at once interesting and moderately horrifying.

[Isabella Crews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated that this book discussed many food related topics, from diets, to cost, to the effects of our Western Diet on the environment. While I did not agree with all of the information presented in this book, I appreciated the overall message. Mark Bittman presents plenty of surprising facts to support his claims, all of which are relevant and swaying. I appreciate the tone in which he addresses these issues, and I found the arrangement of the book to be nice to follow. A Bone To Pick is a collection of articles through which Bittman has published in the New York Times, spanning several years. Overall, Mark Bittman’s claims were compelling and intriguing.

While a priority should be placed on the consumption of fruit and vegetables, Mark Bittman argues that small consumption of meat can be beneficial, and the main problem with meat today is the way they are raised, fed, and cared for that is so detrimental to our health and the environment. While the poor diet for animals contributes heavily to their lack of nutritional benefits, there are countless studies to show that meat, regardless of how it is raised and fed, is still dangerous to consume.

[Lgordo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't get past the first chapter of this book, it started so aggressively with its conclusion that I wasn't sure why to keep going and read the thought process (assuming that's what the rest of the book is).

In short, Bittman is anti-GMO, anti-big-ag, pro-organic, pro-school-lunches (this doesn't seem like it belongs except inasmuch as it involves food). He believes in agricultural subsidies, but thinks they should go to small organic farmers, not big soybean farmers.

I don't really disagree with any of this (except the GMOs. I'm very pro-GMO) so I didn't feel a need to keep reading and be convinced. I should, in theory, be curious to know if he has any new arguments to shed on these topics, but his writing was too polemic to draw me in.

I would hope the book would also address how to go about these changes he advocates, but I doubt it does. That didn't seem to be how it was written, and anyway, policy details are usually not the purview of people who write anti-big-ag treatises.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I wanted to like this book more, but I have to say reading this during our current political times vs. when this was published in 2015 turned discouraging into dire in my mind.

I wouldn’t recommend this book to someone in the early stages of food education. This book is comprised of short essays reprinted from Bittman’s column in the NYT between 2011-2014, and covers a range of topics from food safety to GMOs to health issues, etc. Lots of facts, but mainly opinion and with a slight bitter/negative tone to each one.

That works for me as I am always feeling guilty about the way we eat and trying to make little permanent changes, while finding balance with kids and my sweet tooth. For others, I can see this driving people towards bad habits because of the overwhelming amount of uphill climbing we need to do to make little improvements in every area of our food supply.

[Gretchen Schreiber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a collection of NYT opinion articles related to the food system written by Mark Bittman. There was some interesting new information in this book (80% of the pharmaceuticals in the US are fed to animals, how the sugary beverage tax would work in tandem with an organic produce subsidy, etc.), but I found the overall tone of the book patronizing and overly focused on sugary beverages, fast food, and lowering meat consumption. I was hoping to garner more information on the food system in relation to PACs, the government, big Agra and the monopolization of food producers. IMO it’s common knowledge that fast food and Mountain Dew are bad for you, so it felt like Bittman was wasting time complaining about how bad those industries are instead of shedding light on more hidden goings on within the food industry.

[Diana Abreu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Bittman‘s excellent collection of his New York Times opinion articles on the standard American diet (SAD); the link between soft drinks (liquid sugar) and obesity; toothless FDA rules; a farm bill that is never challenged while it upholds a broken food network of industrial farms and processed junk foods which harm public health (environmentally and nutritionally); and the low wages and abysmal rights for farm workers and food industry employees.

VB6 — vegan before six pm — is a suggestion for eating vegetarian until 6 PM when you eat what you want for dinner (although for Bittman that usually means fish, pasta and some vegetables). He advocates for cooking at home and says you don’t have to eat organic to make better choices and help the environment. “Eat more plants, try to wipe out junk food from your diet, and cut back on industrially produced animal products.“

[Emily E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Repetitive because it’s a compilation of his NYT columns, but that was kind of helpful on audio to help me retain more. The basic repeated ideas: Cook at home. Eat more plants, organic and local if you can. No soda. Eat less meat, and the meat you eat should be humanely treated, grass fed, no hormones or antibiotics. Food workers of all sorts need better treatment and pay. The government has its priorities screwed up. Nothing earth shattering, but kind of lovely in its simplicity.

There’s also a lot of public health and ag policy stuff in here too (soda taxes, subsidies, etc.) that I’ve heard before but still found helpful. It’s a decent primer on health and food policy.

[Samantha A. Amaral · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be more than a collection of his work for the New York Times, but that's all it was. Bittman brings up some really good points in his writing, but I feel that there needs to be an update on the criticism of the FDA and USDA in how they regulate our food. Most of his stuff was written during a time when the Food Safety Modernization Act was still very much in it's infancy at that point. Regulations on a variety of things have changed dramatically with the final ruling on the tractability rule came down in December 2022. From the point of view of a food safety professional this was rather misleading in nature with the information presented and lacked in the science aspects behind why food is processed the way it is.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Excellent, easily digestible collection of essays/opeds covering many major topics on food and agriculture. I think Bittman does a great job of presenting nuanced arguments on food issues without falling into the traps of buzzwords and fads. I learned a lot I didn’t know about food, but beyond actually information, Bittman’s writing really just pushed me to be more thoughtful about food—where it comes from, how it’s produced, what it’s effects on the environment and laborers and animals and consumers are.

[Véronique · Rating 3 out of 5]

My mistake, I did not realize that this is a collection of articles already published about 5 years ago. This is not necessarily a problem, as there is a lot of interesting information if you have not read much on the topic before.
If like me, you've read quite a few books including some by Bittman, you won't learn much.
Also, some of the articles can feel dated, when he mentions the Obama administration and we are now under Trump's which has much different approach at food regulations for example.

[Damian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me qualify my rating. The writing is excellent, and I find the arguments both thoughtful and persuasive. The problem is that this should not be a book. It is a collection of independent essays, and as such, it is painfully repetitive. If you are the kind of person who wants to read, say, a chapter a month, or have it as bathroom literature, I highly recommend it. But if you are the kind of person who likes to read books cover to cover, you're better off searching for his articles on the web, and focusing on the ones that interest you most.

[David Brinkman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m very happy that I read this.
Agree to disagree is the way to go in certain areas however, Mark Bittman has some extremely valuable points. This book definitely helped me confront some choices that I should make and made arguments that I couldn’t articulate easier for me to explain. The book is thought provoking, intelligent, and the writer is well informed. Though he tends to throw softballs at his political favorites and lubricated darts at the other side. Aside from that, any one who eats food in America should read this.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you never saw any of Mr. Bittman's articles about food and how it all works, then you will enjoy this compilation. if you read all his articles, you won't be happy for the repeat. I am of the former group and quite enjoyed the essays/articles. our food system is completely messed up and the only way to fix it is by kicking and screaming harder and louder along with using our spending power.

[Shimista · Rating 4 out of 5]

important short, easy-to-read essays about the state of our food system - the big companies spending billions on getting us to eat more junk food, how we can redistribute food so no one goes hungry, suggested changes to food labels to get us eating real food, why we should eat less meat/chicken/dairy, and so much more.

mostly from the early 2010s, still applies.

great tips on what to start/continue doing

[Chad Bunch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good read for anyone interested in eating well, protecting our environment, supporting local farmers and other food producers and sustaining the slow food movement. This book is a collection of Mr. Bittman's articles for the New York Times, so it is not original writing, but still worth checking out.