Selmelier

Mark Bitterman

Mark Bitterman (me!) is selmelier and owner of The Meadow, a specialty food business with locations in Portland, Oregon, and New York City. Mark's first book, Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes, won a James Beard Foundation Award.

No one knows salt like Bitterman. Mark has traveled the globe for 25 years seeking salts worthy of your food. Mark is a world-renowned speaker and James Beard Award winning author of Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, and the world’s first selmelier. A selmelier is to salt what the sommelier is to wine, providing information and expertise that helps diners and chefs get the best possible results from their food. Mark has been recognized as a Local Food Hero by Cooking Light and a Tastemaker in Food & Wine. He has been featured in The New York Times, The Splendid Table, Bizarre Foods, ABC News, CNN, the History Channel, among others.

A leading expert on finishing salt, chocolate, and bitters, Mark has clientele from top chefs to food manufacturers to home cooks. Mark leads salt-inspired dinners at many celebrated restaurants and lectures at culinary schools such as the French Culinary Institute, the Institute of Culinary Education, and Le Cordon Bleu.