The Minimalist Moves On

[nakji]

Mark Bittman bids farewell to the Minimalist in the New York Times Dining section.

I'll miss him, quite frankly. His style of cooking - make do with what you've got; simplify a dish if you need to; don't be afraid to try new things; cook on a hotplate if you must; reexamine the tools in your kitchen periodically - I think makes cooking accessible to a lot of people who are afraid of it; thinking they need special equipment or ingredients they see on TV.

And he helped bring us Jim Lahey's no-knead bread, so.

From his farewell piece,

In part, what I see as the continuing attack on good, sound eating and traditional farming in the United States is a political issue. I’ll be writing regularly about this in the opinion pages of The Times, and in a blog that begins next week. That’s one place to look for me from now on. The other is in The Times Magazine, where I’ll be writing a recipe column most Sundays beginning in March.

Part of my reasoning in going to the opinion section is to advocate, essentially, for eaters’ rights. But the response of good cooks, and those of us who write about cooking, must be to continue to look for ways to bring real food to all of our tables.

[LindaK]

When I first read his farewell article today, I had much the same reaction and appreciations as you. Then I did a double-take: he'll be writing Op Ed pieces, a blog, a weekly recipe column in the Sunday magazine (instead of the Wednesday food section). It sounds like more Bittman, not less. It will be interesting to see what he chooses as topics and recipes now that he's not constrained by being the "minimalist."

[nakji]

It looks like he's taking a more political turn - I wonder if his op-ed pieces will include recipes?

I guess we'll be seeing more Michael Pollan-style pieces?

[LindaK]

Another observation: if Bittman is going to be writing the recipe column in the NYT magazine most Sundays, it sounds as if the Times is planning changes there too. Right now the Sunday magazine food column rotates among several writers. Who's out?

[Special K]

It looks like he's taking a more political turn

So he is: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/a-food-manifesto-for-the-future/

[Katie Meadow]

Frankly I like Bittman's politics better than his recipes, although once a week Bittman anything is plenty for me. However, if anyone else in the magazine's regular food rotation gets axed as a result, I'm going to be extremely unhappy. I'm already sad that Christine Muhlke is giving up her farm column (she's moving to Bon Ap) but if Cooking with Dexter goes away I will be inconsolable.