Mark Bittman

While he has never been a professional chef, Mark Bittman has worked as a food writer for over 30 years. He is the bestselling author of the cookbooks "How to Cook Everything", "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian", and  "Food Matters", and he writes The Minimalist column for the New York Times. He also regularly makes online cooking videos for the Times' Diner's Journal blog, and often appears on television. Last year he traveled to Spain with Mario Batali and Gwyneth Paltrow to tape the public television series "Spain: On the Road Again." He lives in New York.