Mark Bitterman

Mark Bitterman is an American food writer and entrepreneur. With his wife Jennifer Turner Bitterman he is co-owner of The Meadow, a boutique that specializes in finishing salts, single-origin dark chocolate bars, bitters, and gourmet accoutrements. The Meadow was founded in Portland, Oregon in 2006 and expanded to the West Village in New York City in 2010.^[1]

Life

Bitterman was born on December 22, 1966 in New York City and spent much of his childhood in Southern California. He attended Reed College and Sarah Lawrence College and has worked in marketing, engineering, and food writing. He now has homes in both Portland and New York.

Bitterman cites as his discovery of finishing salts a steak with fleur de sel that he had while motorcycling through France at the age of twenty.^[2] Ever since he has been collecting salts, visiting salt flats, and talking to salt makers throughout his travels around the world.

Accomplishments

In October 2010, Bitterman released his book, Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes. Salted consists of three parts: 1) a brief history of salt and artisan saltmaking techniques, 2) a taxonomy and reference guide of over 150 salts, and 3) a collection of recipes making use of different salting techniques.

In June 2011 Salted won the James Beard Foundation Award for Reference and Scholarship Cookbook.^[3] It has also been nominated for the International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Awards for the Food & Beverage Reference/Technical category and First Book: The Julia Child Award.^[4]

Bitterman has also been named a tastemaker by Food & Wine^[5] and a local food hero by Cooking Light.^[6] He is credited with having coined the word selmelier, a food service professional whose area of expertise is finishing salts and salting techniques.^[7] He is known as an expert in salt and consults with restaurateurs and lectures at culinary academies about the use of finishing salts and Himalayan salt blocks.^[8]

Press

Television & Radio

• MSNBC: Your Business
• CBS News, “The History of Salt, in a Pinch”
• Oregon Public Broadcasting: ‘The Meadow’ Introduces Portland to the Salt of the Earth
• The Splendid Table (original air date 6 November 2010)
• WABC, “Shop Sells Worldwide Gourmet Salt”
• CBS Lifestyle Minute with Anthony Dias Blue
• WNYC, “Pass the Salt”
• WPR, Here on Earth, 17 June 2011

Print Press

• The Chicago Tribune, “Rules of Strategic Salting”
• [http:www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/dining/03store.html The New York Times, “Selling Salts of Many Colors and Shapes”]
• Every Day with Rachel Ray, “Salt Mover & Shaker,” November 2011
• The Sacramento Bee, “Exploring the Wonders of Salt”
• Cooking Light Magazine, “Local Food Heroes”
• Food & Wine, “Tastemakers: Salt”
• TimeOut New York
• Women’s Health, “Plain Table Salt Takes a Back Seat”
• The New York Times, “Culinary Voyage: Portland, OR,” April 2009
• Bon Appetit, “Finishing Salts,” July 2009
• Eating Well, “Nutrition News to Live By,” August 2009
• The Oregonian, “Taste: Using Table Salt? Shake Things Up Instead,” October 2009
• Elegant Bride, “Well Seasoned,” Winter 2009

Online Press

• The New York Times, “In Salts, a Pinch of Bali or a Dash of Spain”
• Entrepreneur.com
• The Seattle Times, “Cooking with salt blocks and bowls is hot – and cold”
• Seattle Times, “Salty advice and a recipe for Chevre with Cyprus Black Flake Sea Salt and Cacao Nibs”
• The Washington Post, “I Spice: Salt”
• The Village Voice, “A Look Inside the Meadow”
• The Guardian, ” Savour salt – the seasoning of the senses”
• The Independent, “The white stuff: Exotic varieties of salt are all the rage”
• The Guardian,” Savour the Salt”
• Portland Monthly, “Take it with a Grain of Salt, Or a Chunk”
• FoxNews.com, “Sixteen Sweet Cookbooks”
• SeriousEats.com, “Salt Mining: How to Cook with Specialty Salt”
• Smith & Ratliff, “Salty, Bittery, Flowery and Sweet”
• TravelOregon.com, “Chilling and Grilling at The Meadow”

References

1. ^ The Meadow: About Us
2. ^ Bitterman, Mark (2010). Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, With Recipes. Ten Speed Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-58008-262-4. 
3. ^ KGW News blurb on Bitterman's win
4. ^ Interview with The Recipe Club
5. ^ Food & Wine Tastemaker
6. ^ Kessler, John (June 201), "How to Find a Local Hero", Cooking Light: 198 
7. ^ “Selmelier” on Michael Quinion's World Wide Words
8. ^ Bitterman on SeriousEats

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Name	Bitterman, Mark
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Date of birth	1966
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