Mark Bittman never steers you wrong when it comes to ideas and advice on food. Now the with a strike by fast food and other low-wage workers set for Monday in several cities, Bittman, Time magazine’s lead food columnist and a New York Times columnist has a question for politicians and corporate execs who oppose paying workers a decent wage and some advice for the rest of us. He’s on the money with both.

The median age of today’s fast-food worker is over 29, and many are trying to support families. One estimate claims that a family of four needs nearly $90,000 a year to get by in the nation’s capital. That’s six minimum wage jobs. Explain to me, please, how you can be pro-family and anti-living-wage simultaneously? (Many Republicans in Congress seem to manage.)