Culinary Historians of New York (CHNY)

Join us WED May 13, 6:30PM at the for our next program:

The Pierogi Problem” by Fabio Parasecoli, Agata Bachorz, and Mateusz Halawa.
When you think about Polish food, what’s the first word that comes to mind? Is it pierogi? Even at a time when exchanges of culinary influence seem to leap across hemispheres at the speed of light, why are multitudes of sophisticated food lovers in the United States unable to name even one other typical Polish dish?

Poles are as proud of their national gastronomy as citizens of any other land, but they are frustrated at its low visibility outside their country. In this talk, we’ll hear about the spirited efforts to elevate the standing of Polish cuisine both within and beyond the nation’s borders. Loyalists aim to preserve historic Polish food traditions; visionaries pursue hopes of Poland’s repositioning within broader culinary frameworks; artisans are eager to deploy the riches of Polish fields and forests as imaginatively as their “New Nordic” neighbors.

Fabio Parasecoli will discuss Poland’s culinary identity crisis and the lively debates about how to solve it. And we’ll taste examples of various approaches to a remarkable cuisine that for too long has been looked on as “undiscovered.”

Fabio Parasecoli is coauthor with Agata Bachorz and Mateusz Halawa of The Pierogi Problem (University of California Press, 2025) and Professor of Food Studies in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University. In a career spanning several continents and several decades, he is one of the scholars who have done most to shape and enlarge the concept of “food studies.”

This forwarded from Marion Nestle: a job opportunity at Penn State:
We are excited to announce Penn State University is hiring a full-time Food and Culinary Literacy Educator, which will be based in State College, Pennsylvania. This position will facilitate food literacy programming for students to actively engage with the campus and community food system. The Student Farm and Food Systems program website can be found at: https://www.studentfarm.psu.edu/.

Applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, and contact information for two references through PSU Workday (https://psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Staff/job/Penn-State-University-Park/XMLNAME--Food-and-Culinary-Literacy-Educator_REQ_0000076485-2).

The full position description is also available on PSU Workday (REQ_0000076485).

Join us for our next program on Thurs. April 18 at 6:30PM ET. This is a Zoom presentation.

Breadfruit. The Colorful, Global Story of a Caribbean Staple with Russell Fielding

How did breadfruit, a starchy food of the Pacific, become a staple of Caribbean cuisine? Russell Fielding details the botanical, cultural, and political history of breadfruit’s dispersal throughout Oceania by ancestors of today’s Pacific Islanders and its transplantation to the Caribbean by British colonialists to feed enslaved people on their plantations. Along the way, we’ll learn about how Voltaire influenced the development of breadfruit in the Caribbean.

While breadfruit’s legacy is still being understood in the Caribbean, it is being hailed as a “superfood” by people focused on plant-based nutrition and held up as a tool for sustainable development by organizations fighting climate change and world hunger.

Fielding’s story contains many first-hand accounts of how breadfruit is used by people around the world today and ties together themes of tropical horticulture, Indigenous knowledge, colonial food and economic systems, and contemporary efforts toward nutrition and sustainability.

Russell Fielding is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Geography at Coastal Carolina University. He is the author of Breadfruit: Three Global Journeys of a Bountiful Tree (November 2025, Columbia University Press)

6:30: Sign in to Zoom
6:40 Presentation followed by general Q & A
The program is free to members, although advance registration is required

See link in bio to register.

Sunday, March 22, 2026, at 2:00 pm ET

Al-Andalus: The Enduring Influence of Islamic Culture on Spanish Cuisine A Zoom presentation with Janet Mendel

Register via link in bio.

Muslims first invaded the Iberian peninsula in 711 CE, crossing the narrow straits from North Africa and taking over most of what would become the country of Spain. The newly conquered land was called al-Andalus and at one time covered almost the entire Iberian peninsula. For nearly 800 years, Muslim, Sephardic-Jewish, and Mozárabe-Christian communities lived together, in proximity, sometimes at war but often in friendly cooperation, shopping at the same markets, trading commodities, and sharing each other’s holidays and festive foods. This interweaving of cultures embedded the foodways of al-Andalus deeply in Spanish life.

Janet Mendel, journalist and author of several cookbooks, including the new Flavors of Al-Andalus: The Culinary Legacy of Spain (Hippocrene, 2025), will join us by Zoom from her kitchen in Andalusia to tell the story of Moorish influence on Spanish cooking. Using examples from contemporary recipes such as meatballs in almond-saffron sauce, gazpacho with oranges, and eggplant timbale, she will trace the heritage of ingredients and techniques to foods served in Islamic Spain (711–1492).

Please note special time for this program, since Janet will be joining us from Spain.

Recipe250: American Recipes Curated by the Culinary Historians of New York

Do you have a recipe to share? For in recognition of the nation’s 250th anniversary, and the 40th anniversary of the Culinary Historians of New York, we invite you to submit a recipe that reflects your American food traditions. Your recipe will take its place in a digital collection of favorite American dishes, which we will curate and make available to everyone on the CHNY site.

Recipes may come from any source - family cookbooks, community traditions, handwritten cards, or published works - provided you have the right to share them.

See link in bio.

Recipe submissions will be accepted through to October 1, 2026.

Join us for our March program on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, at 6:30 pm with T.A. Breaux on Absinthe: Myth, Mystery, and Misunderstanding

Program Description
No spirit in history has been shrouded in more controversy, myth, and misunderstanding than absinthe, “the green fairy.” The potent spirit was developed in the late 17th century as a medicinal elixir, but it reached a peak of popularity in Belle Epoque Paris, where it was extolled by bohemian artists as a muse then blamed for a wealth of societal ills. By the early 1900s, it was banned in virtually every nation, including the U.S. in 1912. Following prohibition, two world wars, the cold war, and many decades of social change, what was once the most lauded and hated spirit in existence had been reduced to a fairy tale that lingered in artistic and cultural circles before experiencing a global renaissance.
T. A. Breaux is a native New Orleanian and a research scientist who has dedicated more than 30 years of research into the mysteries and myths associated with absinthe. He has painstakingly reconstructed historically accurate examples of the controversial spirit, and he codirected the effort to lift the United States’ 95-year ban on absinthe. His work has been featured in various media in the US and abroad, including numerous television appearances. He is the coauthor of the book Absinthe: The Exquisite Elixir (Chicago Review Press—Fulcrum, 2017).
6:30 pm Reception. This program will include a tasting of absinthe. Guests must 21 and over to participate in the tasting.
7:00 pm Talk
7:45 pm Q & A
Location: Institute of Culinary Education, 225 Liberty Street, Third Floor, New York, NY 10281. Detailed directions will be provided. Advance registration is required, and attendees must show identification for check-in at security on the second floor. The event is on the third floor.
Register through Eventbrite at https://absinthe.eventbrite.com
CHNY members $25
Nonmembers and guests $40

Join us for our next program WED. FEB. 11 at 6:30PM. (A Zoom presentation)

The Wild Ride of an Extraordinary Bean: How Vanilla Went from Rare Fruit to Plain Vanilla with Eric Jennings.

ABOUT the PROGRAM

Vanilla, indigenous to Central America, is one of the most expensive flavorings, coming from the only orchid grown globally for its edible fruit. The once-rare spice, smuggled by pirates and subject to pervasive substitutes, became a potent symbol of the modern global village through colonization and trade rivalries. At the center of the story of vanilla is the discovery in the 1840s by an enslaved boy named Edmond Albius of a hand-pollination method that allowed vanilla to be cultivated outside its native Mexico. Eric Jennings will tell the surprising story of the journey of vanilla from its rarefied origins to global ubiquity.

ABOUT ERIC T JENNINGS

Eric T. Jennings, author of Vanilla: The History of an Extraordinary Bean, is chair of the History Department and a fellow at Victoria College at the University of Toronto. He is the author of seven previous books, and he has held a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship.

6:30: Sign in to Zoom
6:40 Presentation followed by general Q & A

The program is free to members, although advance registration is required
RSVP through Eventbrite at https://historyofvanilla.eventbrite.com
Nonmembers and guests are invited for $10.
Reminders and a Zoom link will come from Eventbrite, once you register.

Join us for our first program of the year, on January 15, 2026. A Zoom presentation with Jenny Herman. Registration via link in bio.

ABOUT the PROGRAM

The sweet and sophisticated Hungarian wines of Tokaj, or Tokay, are among the oldest and most sought-after of wines, preferred by Louis XIV and Catherine the Great. But starting in the mid-19th century, they suffered first from phylloxera, then two world wars, and then Hungary’s control by the Soviet regime, which emphasized quantity over quality. More recently, the region has reemerged as a producer of fine wines and was classified as a UNESCO cultural landscape.

Jenny Herman will trace this fascinating history, focusing on the Furmint grape variety, based in part on her site visits and interviews with winemakers.

Jenny L. Herman is a 2024 recipient of the Culinary Historians of New York Scholars’ Grant. She is a researcher and writer focusing on connections between food, the arts, and society. Jenny holds a PhD in Cultural Studies from KU Leuven in Belgium and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the EIREST lab at the University of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne, which focuses on the social, economic, and political aspects of tourism.

6:30: Sign in to Zoom
6:40 Presentation followed by general Q & A

The program is free to members, although advance registration is required

RSVP through Eventbrite at https://tokaj.eventbrite.com
Nonmembers and guests are invited for $10.
Reminders and a Zoom link will come from Eventbrite, once you register.

Congratulations to the recipient of the Culinary Historians of New York 2025 Scholars Grant of $1,500, Laura M Carlson for her proposal: Fresh Oysters and Turtle Soup: Dining Out in Toronto with Beverly Randolph Snow (1830-1860)

ABOUT
Laura Carlson is a historian, writer, and media producer. Holding a DPhil in history from Oxford University, she has taught history, classics, philosophy, and food studies in England and in Canada, most recently at Queen’s University and Centennial College. She is also the host and executive producer of the award-winning culinary history podcast, The Feast. Over the years, Laura has worked with numerous international organizations, from Bloomberg News to Heritage Toronto. As a writer and presenter, she has been featured on the CBC, Forbes, The Toronto Star, CBS Sunday Morning, and Atlas Obscura. She is currently working on a book project on the restaurant history of Toronto. Find out more about Laura at her website: lauramcarlson.com

Website: www.lauramcarlson.com & www.thefeastpodcast.org
Instagram: &

Congratulations to the recipient of the Culinary Historians of New York 2025 Scholars Grant of $2,500, Michelle Moon for her proposal: Seeding the Field: The Impact of Sandra Oliver’s Food History News on Historical Interpretation in Museums
ABOUT

Michelle Moon, principal of Saltworks Interpretive Consulting, crafts distinctive and powerful museum experiences. Her interpretive practice grows from experience in pivotal roles at the Tenement Museum, Peabody Essex Museum, Strawbery Banke, and Mystic Seaport Museum. She helps museums and historic sites create unique interpretive approaches, programs, and audience strategies, bringing conceptual vision that bridges past and present, ensuring that museums not only share history but also engage, connect, and inspire audiences. Michelle is an alum of AASLH’s History Leadership Initiative, and earned a master’s degree in museum studies from Harvard University and a bachelor’s in education and American studies at Connecticut College. She is a co-editor of the Journal of Museum Education.

Website: https://www.saltworkshq.com/
Instagram: mnmoon

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