The Food Studies program at The New School draws on a range of disciplines to explore the connections between food and the environment, politics, history, and culture. Our faculty of culinary historians, policy activists, entrepreneurs, and scientists provide students with the theoretical and practical tools they need to engage in the developing conversation about food production, distribution, quality, and taste and to effect positive change in their own food environments.
We offer full-term undergraduate and continuing education courses on culinary history, food policy, the food business, food and health, and food and culture. We also offer one-day workshops for working and aspiring food professionals and a series of public events, panel discussions, and readings. Food studies undergraduate courses can be taken as part of the New School Bachelor's Program in the Liberal Arts for adults and other nontraditional students. To learn more about Food Studies at The New School, see our program video.
Fabio Parasecoli, Coordinator
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Food History: Why Should We Care?
Wednesday, March 21, 6:00 p.m.
Wollman Hall, 65 West 11th Street, 5th floor (enter at 66 West 12th Street)
$5; free to all students and New School faculty, staff, and alumni with ID
Food history has become a hot topic in popular media, as the growing number of book, articles, and TV shows indicates. At a time when food systems are rapidly changing, and not always for the better, people are interested in the origins of what they eat, what people before them ate, and what they are likely to eat in the future. To celebrate the U.S. publication of Berg Publishers' six-volume Cultural History of Food, this panel gathers contributors to discuss what food history brings to both history and food studies as disciplines and to contemporary debates about food. Can understanding the historical dynamics of food culture, production, and consumption help us make better choices today? Panelists: Paul Freedman, professor of history, Yale University; Amy Bentley, associate professor of food studies, NYU; and Amy Trubek, associate professor of nutrition and food sciences, University of Vermont. Moderated by New School Food Studies coordinator Fabio Parasecoli.
Jewish Cuisines: The Local and the Global
Tuesday, April 24, 6:00 p.m.
Theresa Lang Center, Arnhold Hall, 55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor
$5; free to all students and New School faculty, staff, and alumni with ID
Jewish cuisine, based on biblical traditions and customs developed over centuries of history, has found new homes in different parts of the globe. The creativity and distinctiveness of this truly global cuisine is a testament to the resilience of religious and secular Jewish culture. This panel explores the richness of Jewish culinary practices, as speakers share food memories and recipes ranging from eastern European to Jewish-Italian, from the New York deli to contemporary Israeli. Panelists: June Feiss Hersh, author of Recipes Remembered: A Celebration of Survival; Eli Landau, author of The White Book, the first Jewish book on pork; Ted Merwin, professor of religion and Judaic studies, Dickinson College; and Naama Shefi, from the Department of Public Affairs of the Consulate General of Israel in New York. Val Vinokur, director of Jewish Studies at Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, moderates. Co-sponsored by the Food Studies and Jewish Cultural Studies programs of The New School for Public Engagement and the Israeli consulate.
