Learning how to cook

One woman’s blog-worthy efforts

By Culinate staff

January 12, 2009

So Mark Bittman is known for encouraging folks to learn to cook with real ingredients; witness, say, his recent column on chucking processed foods in the kitchen and his new book, Food Matters. But the person kitchen novices can really identify with is Bittman’s Web producer, Emily Weinstein, who has been faithfully chronicling her (often embarrassing) attempts to learn to cook on Bittman’s blog, Bitten. Her ambition often outstrips her abilities, kitchen equipment, and time-management skills, but she’s buoyant and, inevitably, proud of her efforts to cook such items as roast chicken, pumpkin pie, braised lamb, and butternut squash soup. You go, girl.