Bittman video series, ‘California Matters,’ now on the menu

Food writer, author and New York Times columnist Mark Bittman has teamed with the University of California and the campus’s Berkeley Food Institute — where he’s currently a distinguished visiting fellow —  on a video series focused on food-related research that launches today.

The 10-part series, “Mark Bittman: California Matters,” takes the renowned writer across the state to explore leading-edge UC research in food, sustainable agriculture, policy and health.

Episodes in the series will include a look at restaurant workers’ rights with Saru Jayaraman, director of UC Berkeley’s Food Labor Research Center; the role of pollinators in crop production, with Berkeley ecologist Claire Kremen; the effects of pesticide exposure on mothers and children in the Salinas Valley, with epidemiologist Brenda Eskenazi, of Berkeley’s School of Public Health; and the changing face of California agriculture, with Jennifer Sowerwine, a researcher in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management.

During his time in California, Bittman says, “I want to find out as much as I can about the agriculture and food research surrounding it. There’s a lot going on out here.”

For more details, or to watch the series, visit the UC website.