Class will soon be in session for Mark Bittman, who has just announced that he’ll be taking part in a semester-long residency at the Berkeley Food Institute at UC Berkeley.

On the menu? A class called “Edible Education 101: The Rise and Future of the Food Movement,” which he’ll co-lead for on-campus students and online viewers at the Edible Schoolyard website.

The Berkeley Food Institute is a project co-founded by noted writer Michael Pollan, who has taught the Edible Education class in the past, in collaboration with chef and food advocate Alice Waters. Other well-known names who will be teaching classes in the spring of 2015 include Claus Meyer and Marion Nestle.

Bittman says the opportunity to spend some time on campus is appealing:

There are four things I’m really interested in: cooking, which I don’t need to come here to do (though I will!); agriculture; public health and justice. And I would say agriculture and the environment are inexorably tied.

This is an amazing opportunity for the part of me that wants to learn more about agriculture. You can’t see anywhere else what you can see here. You can go to Iowa and see all the corn and soybeans you want, but if you want to see fruits and vegetables, there is no place like California. That’s among the things that make this a really rare opportunity.

Bittman is not a chef, although he’s authored cookbooks and food columns. He tells Growing Bolder that he’s passionate about helping people find better, healthier and more exciting ways to eat.

Learn more about the Berkeley Food Institute and its upcoming residency program here!