Mark Bittman, who left his position as a New York Times columnist to work for vegan meal-kit startup Purple Carrot last year, has turned his attention to public health. Columbia University announced that, this month, Bittman joins the faculty of its Mailman School of Public Health, where he’s now a part of the department of health policy and management.
In his new role, he’ll teach and advise students as well as work toward broadening the school’s focus on food. In a statement released by Columbia, Bittman emphasized the “centrality” of food to issues, from “climate change to the chronic disease crisis, and even poverty.” In many ways, the move sounds like a natural fit for Bittman, who has advocated for a drinking age for soda and authored books like VB6, which advocates a vegan diet before 6 p.m.
