- Sen. Michael Bennet discussed food politics with cookbook author Mark Bittman in a new podcast.
- Bennet shared how he devoured Bittman's recipes during the pandemic and now cooks them regularly.
Sen. Michael Bennet proved how "obsessed" he's been with the award-winning recipes he gleaned from cookbook author Mark Bittman during the pandemic by posting a video of himself making the Mediterranean-style tuna sandwich that's rocked his dining world.
—Michael Bennet (@SenatorBennet) May 2, 2023
"I'm going to show you how to make the most sublime thing that is in Mark Bittman's cookbook," the Colorado Democrat says as he walks social media fans through a savory offering punched up by anchovy-spiked olive tapenade.
The non-traditional mash-up, which Bennet said he learned from Bittman's masterful "How to Cook Everything," is just one of the life-changing recipes he's committed to memory over the past few years.
"I think that combination with the tuna is really amazing," the four-term lawmaker told Insider between votes at the US Capitol, adding that, "I made it last weekend."
The online shout-out was just an appetizer for Bennet's debut Wednesday on Bittman's weekly podcast "Food with Mark Bittman," during which the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry member talked about his interest in food policy issues. Bennet said that invite came about after Bittman heard him dispensing familiar cooking tips with another interviewer who was contemplating their own dinner plans.
"The person at the end of the podcast said she was gonna go cook dinner, and I said, 'Well, what are you going to make?' And she said, 'Tofu. But I don't have a recipe for tofu,'" Bennet explained while walking through the Senate subway tunnels. "And I rattled off Mark Bittman's recipe for stir-fried tofu."
Bittman delves into Bennet's day job, talking child poverty, the 2023 Farm bill, and the importance of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in overcoming food insecurity during their wide-ranging talk. Afterwards, Bennet tells Bittman that he scooped up "How to Cook Everything" shortly after Covid-19 hit and used it to hash out his daily meals while the congressional cafeterias remained shuttered.
Since then, Bennet said he's become an aficionado of cooking with a cast iron skillet and praised Bittman for helping him up his home cooking game.
"I think everybody feels like the last couple of years, the food's gotten a lot better in our house," Bennet said of family mealtimes. "And they're right."
Some of the other recipes Bennet said he now relies on include Bittman's take on roast chicken, fresh fish broiled in a cast iron pan, and a single-skillet feast Bittman describes as "the shrimp dish."
Bennet heralds it as "the best way to make shrimp," but informs Bittman that he does substitute chili powder for the prescribed dusting of hot paprika, and notes that he wraps the fiery shellfish in a tortilla.
While he typically mixes it up with fellow food writers and superstar chefs, Bittman does talk turkey with politicians from time to time. The cooking icon interviewed Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey in November 2022 and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in April 2022.