We’re reflecting on the past year of The Bittman Project — and planning how we’re moving forward. We’re grateful that you’ve been a part of it.

If you’re a paying member, thank you. If you’re a free subscriber, please consider joining our community.

In our first year:

• We’ve built a community of home cooks with upward of 100,000 participants a day.

• Every Monday we’ve helped you figure out “What’s for Dinner?” and archived all the recipes for easy access any time.

• We’ve baked bread together. 

• We’ve enjoyed two winters of really great holiday citrus. 

• We’ve gotten to know our fishmonger and learned how to buy fish. 

• With Kate at the helm, we’ve launched our podcast, Food with Mark Bittman, which recently wrapped up its second season, and includes guests as diverse as Stanley Tucci, Marcia Chatelain, Sutton Foster, and Cookie Monster with Gonger.

• We’ve been thrifty in our budget recipes. 

• We’ve focused on more plant-based dinners.

• We’ve celebrated the passing of the seasons with “Things We Love” every month. 

• We’ve explored a couple of our books that came out this year: besides Bittman Bread, Animal, Vegetable, Junk. 

• We’ve introduced a few of our favorite writers into the mix: Kayla Stewart has written for us about Black dining in America. Holly Haines features her own compelling recipes and videos. Lisa Held explored the possibility of going carbon neutral. And we’ve showcased the opinions of Samantha Irby, Mike Diago, Michael Arceneaux, Debby Waldman, and others. 

• We’ve inspired each other to get more creative with leftovers, thanks to Kerri. 

• We’ve crowd-sourced a vegan grillable veggie burger through Burgerville. 

• We’ve talked to Paul Greenberg about climate change, Ricardo Salvador, director of the food and environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, about our ‘suicidal’ food system. We’ve learned about unfair dairy through Anna Canning’s ‘For a Better World’ podcast. 

• We’ve discussed a litany food-related things; On citrus, favorite holiday recipes, chili, grilling, Italian food, how we’ve learned to cook, how we’re eating less meat, whether we’re an acolyte of Instant Pots, and more. And more than once, you’ve asked me anything that has to do with cooking. 

We have a lot to celebrate and we’re looking forward to cooking together in the coming year.