Mark Bittman, author of the wildly popular How to Cook Everything, is known for making food preparation as simple as possible, so it's no surprise that his new book has the plainest title imaginable: Food Matters. The content is equally straight-forward. Part eating theory and part recipes, Food Matters has something Bittman's earlier writings don't: A clear moral message on how meat over-consumption hurts the planet. TIME talked to Bittman about why buying local food isn't paramount, what his new wardrobe says about his eating habits and why sustainable agriculture advocates have reason to hope.

The subtitle of your book is "A Guide to Conscious Eating." What is "conscious eating"?

What I'm advocating is that people eat fewer animal products, less junk food and less super-refined carbohydrates. And in their stead, they eat plants. That's the simplest, most basic way to put it.

A lot of what you say sounds like [Omnivore's Dilemma author] Michael Pollan's edict—eat food, not too much, mostly plants. It's a very basic idea.

Yeah, and don't eat things your grandmother wouldn't recognize and don't eat things that have more than five ingredients. There's very little Michael says that I disagree with. Not to take anything away from him, but he doesn't do recipes. ... (Read the full interview)