Course Descriptions and Faculty Bios

This course provides a road map for the process of opening and operating food business both retail/restaurant and food product. It includes creating an idea to meet market needs; developing, locating and structuring the business; implementing a relationship based marketing program; understanding the daily tasks required to operate; and, creating financial projections, and a business plan. 

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Talia Berman is an experienced hospitality professional with a demonstrated history of leadership, successful restaurant operations, and consulting in the food and beverage industry. Talia comes to NYU from the Institute of Culinary Education, where she has guest lectured since 2010. Talia is the chief of staff at Friend of Chef (FOC), a hospitality advisory firm. Before taking this role, Talia led operations at Levain Bakery, where she oversaw 300 employees across 10 bakeries and $30m in cookie sales. Talia got her start at Danny Meyer's Union Square Cafe before heading into private dining and events where she worked for Jonathan Benno at Lincoln in Lincoln Center. From there, Talia opened and managed restaurants in New York and New Orleans, among them Tia Pol, Maysville, and Kenton's. Talia's favorite food is french fries but she refuses to name a favorite restaurant because the question is imperfect, as she will explain in the course. Talia lives in the Lower East Side with her husband and two young sons. 

The course in "Food Policy" provides students with an overview of the policy making process, particularly as it concerns food and nutrition policy in the United States.  Intended for master's-level students in nutrition, food studies, and related fields, the course will consider the role and organization of government in the realm of food and nutrition policy and cover all stages of the policy cycle, including agenda setting, policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation.  Topics to be covered include the role of government in regard to agriculture, global food trade, food safety, retail and restaurants, and nutritional support.

Covers production, distribution & consumption of food in the context of social, cultural, technological & biological processes under conditions of globalization. Employing approaches from the humanities & the social sciences, this course prepares students to initiate the process of analyzing the current American food system, its global connections, & proposed local alternatives that is developed further in other courses. Through lectures, readings & research the students master established facts & concepts about contemporary urban food cultures & produce new knowledge of the same.

This course offers an in-depth look at a specific cuisine or cuisines. We look at the historical evolution of cuisine including but not limited to agriculture, technology, geo-political forces, climate change, geographic border changes, colonialism, post-colonialism, and nationalism. We analyze this cuisine in its specific cultural context as well as through a broader, global prism. We pay particular attention to performances of national identity through food and cooking. We rely on both academic research and cookbooks. 

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At a time of political upheaval, movements for racial and economic justice, and intense social change, why should you bother to write about food? And if you do, how can you do it well enough to get your voice heard? This course will combine practical lessons in writing for a popular audience with a bird’s eye view of the tradition of food writing; a writerly engagement with craft; and a contemporary understanding of food’s place in our culture and politics. 

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Rachel Wharton is a James Beard Award-winning food writer. Wharton is the author of Edible Brooklyn: The Cookbook and co-author of Korean Home Cooking and F*ck, That’s Delicious with Action Bronson. Read Rachel's full bio here. 

In the Urban Agriculture course students will learn how to grow food within an urban environment through hands-on learning of agricultural techniques at the NYU Urban Farm Lab. In exploring the past and present forms of urban agriculture through class readings and city-based field trips to urban farms, students will also learn the implementation and significance of urban agriculture within today’s urban food system. Additionally, we will discuss greater themes found within urban agriculture such as entrepreneurship, food justice, individual and group sustenance, cultural enactments of identity, community building, and education. 

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Melissa Metrick also manages the NYU Urban Farm Lab, where she works with staff, students, and volunteers in crop planning, harvesting, and implementing sustainable urban agriculture practices. Additionally, she is the garden manager at the farm to table restaurant Roberta's located in Brooklyn. As garden manager, she designs and creates the on-site kitchen garden, which is also used to educate the chefs and guests in how to grow food sustainably within a city environment. Melissa has been focusing on and working in the urban agriculture field for the past 12 years. Melissa started her career volunteering for Americorps, where she taught children in South Berkeley how to grow and cook healthy food from their school garden. She has a Master's degree in Food Studies from NYU and a Horticultural Certificate from Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.

Covers the US food system from the farm to the intermediary to the consumer, in the context of the market & the policy environment. Using methods of the social sciences, the course provides students with a broad understanding of the benefits & costs of the domestic food system. Topics include issues such as intermediary market power, unequal food access, & food production technology. Through lectures, readings, discussion & on the ground research, students gain a deep understanding of the current state of the food system.

Theoretical & applied aspects of research design, data analysis, & interpretation. Students teams conduct, analyze, & present an evaluative or applied research project in food studies. Should be taken in the last year of study in the master’s program.  Projects may be peer-review research papers, white papers, curriculum development, business plans, book proposals, longform journalism, media projects or proposed creative projects.

This course examines the organic food system from multiple angles, starting with the historical evolution of organic food and agriculture. Specific aspects studied may include how organic certification works, biodiversity in the organic system, organic’s potential for climate change mitigation, the political economy of the US organic regulation, and international trade of organic products. Students analyze current debates, such as how regenerative agriculture fits into the organic landscape and how to improve organic integrity along the supply chain.

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Dr. Sharon Raszap Skorbiansky is a senior research agricultural economist at USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS). Her research focuses on thinly traded and emerging markets—particularly production, policy, and marketing of organic, non-GMO, and plant-based products. She received her PhD in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University, and her Bachelors in Economics from the University of Maryland.

An interactive course that surveys the history, concepts and techniques behind photographing food in its best light. Lively class discussions, research projects, homework assignments, and in-kitchen demos, round out a two-day crash course in all things food photography, from plate to lens.

In Food and Culture we determine how people use food to define themselves as individuals, groups or whole societies.  We identify the meaning and significance of food in different cultures by exploring the way that ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status and religion influence our food choices or preferences.  Additionally, we will examine how culture is transmitted and preserved through food.  Through reading scholarly articles, personal essays, book excerpts, newspaper articles and cookbooks we explore the intricate relationship that people have with food. 

We will look critically at the following questions: how can food have different meanings and uses for different people? How does food function both to foster community feeling and drive wedges among people?  What are some prevailing academic theories that help us identify and understand more subtle meanings of food? 

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Food in the Arts: Media critically analyzes foods’ portrayal across media platforms. We unpack how the media influences taste, purchases, and food beliefs; how it develops characters by what they eat and drink; and how it creates trends and movements. We explore cooking as entertainment, food shopping as a personal statement, and how media intersects with class, gender and racial tropes. Beginning with theory and moving through print, television, film, and the internet, students have hands-on experience interacting with the messages that define American food culture.

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Jasmine Nielsen has two decades of experience leading New York City nonprofit organizations, including Just Food and Love Heals, the Alison Gertz Foundation for AIDS Education. She provides strategic advisement to nonprofit organizations working on food, art, culture, and the environment in New York City, New Orleans, and Atlanta. Jasmine's current clients include The Freshkills Park Alliance, Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition, the Times Square Alliance, and the 92nd Street Y. Jasmine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Vassar College and a master of arts in Food Studies from NYU.

This course provides students with an opportunity to directly engage with New York City’s urban food systems. Students will venture into the city's diverse foodways examining the critical social, political, and environmental factors that influence food sustainability in an urban setting. The course centers on site visits to urban farms, markets, food production facilities and other key locations where students will gain firsthand insights from local experts and policymakers about the complexities of feeding a bustling metropolis.

In addition to fieldwork, the course includes interactive lectures and discussions that delve into the historical and contemporary challenges of urban food production and distribution. Guest speakers from various sectors including local government, not-for-profit organizations, and the food industry will share their experiences and perspectives on current initiatives and future trends. Through these interactions students will have the opportunity to network with professionals and explore career paths within the field of urban food systems. 

By the end of the course, students will have a nuanced understanding of how food systems operate in a complex urban environment and will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to contribute to sustainable food practices in their communities and beyond.

Please note: there is a $100 course fee for farmer and speaker tour fees/honorariums.

Leigh Ollman is involved in organizing various community-based food, farming, and fungi-related initiatives. In addition to teaching about food systems and agriculture as an adjunct professor at NYU, Leigh grows seasonal gourmet mushrooms in the Hudson Valley and has co-facilitated mushroom cultivation workshops for the Cornell Small Farms Program across the Northeast region. She recently served as the Land Organizing Manager at the National Young Farmers Coalition, working alongside hundreds of farmers across the country to advocate for more equitable land access policies. Leigh earned her M.A. in Food Studies from NYU where she was a founding member of both the NYU Seed Library and the NYU Mycology Group. Earlier in her career, she spent over a decade working in both the corporate and not-for-profit sectors managing charitable giving programs and social impact initiatives.

This course explores how technology has shaped our contemporary food system while contributing to the form of globalization we currently live in. At the same time, technology is not just the neutral result of scientific research but reflects those same social, economic, and political dynamics that determine the way we think about food, its quality, and its value. The course will also explore emerging technologies, from blockchain and e-agriculture to CRISPR and the attempts at harnessing the microbiome.

This course examines the corpus of literature that uses social network theory to describe the evolution of taste. Social networks consist of groups of people who are connected through socially meaningful exchanges. Studies based on social networks examine how groups of people interact, including creation of social capital as well as the exclusion of some individuals. 

Juan C. S. Herrera studies food consumption, food recipes, and food supply chains. He is particularly interested in understanding how these components of the food system develop over time. His methodological approach uses quantitative and qualitative methodologies such as data science, network science, econometrics, archival research, and historical methods. Juan holds a PhD in food studies from NYU and has over 8 years of professional experience in data science which he has applied to consumer finance and government monitoring, evaluation and learning. 

This course meets during the second 7 weeks of the semester. Hear more from the professor. 

This course focuses on critical works in the field of food studies that rely on oral history to analyze food within larger socio-cultural and political experiences. As an interdisciplinary field of research inherently centered on sensory and cultural experiences, oral histories open up different pathways to understand food. In addition to mastering the existing body of knowledge using oral histories, students will conduct oral history interviews that will expand our academic understanding of foodways through the work of oral history.

Dr. Shayne Leslie Figueroa is a food historian and earned her PhD in Food Studies from New York University. Her dissertation examined the social history of the school lunch program in New York City during the postwar period. Dr. Figueroa has taught both graduate and undergraduate food studies courses over the past ten years at NYU, The New School, Stirling College, the New York Public Library, and Boston University. Her most recent published articles include: “Oral Histories of Three Women Pioneers in Organic Agriculture” in Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems Journal, and “Negotiating Place and Power through Union Grievance in Post-war NYC Cafeterias” in Gender & History. 

This course meets during the first 7 weeks of the semester. 

The consequences of agricultural exceptionalism, migration laws, income inequality, and climate change reverberate throughout the food system. This course examines the interplay among these factors, identifying how they lead to disproportionate impacts on vulnerable groups (for example, farmworkers). Students will analyze the successes and failures of policy to reduce the inequities.

Sofía Jimènez Saborit is a human rights lawyer. She holds a MA in Development Studies from The Graduate Institute of Geneva, where she wrote her thesis on agricultural development in rural regions of Mexico within the framework of food sovereignty. With years of cumulative experience as a lawyer and a development professional, Sofia has been part of several projects on an international level. In 2019 she was part of a consultancy project for PwC, mandated by the Swiss government for the Gender Pay Act to achieve equal pay for women and men. Prior to that, she has also worked in Kenya with non-profit organizations to support Maasai victims of female genital mutilation and early marriages by organizing advocacy campaigns for awareness on gender issues. Sofía’s academic and professional experiences span over 10 years and have helped her acquire a range of inter-disciplinary skills to develop and execute projects to empower people who are systematically disadvantaged.

Sofía’s current research interests include food security, agricultural policy and gender. Her approach to food security aims to identify and understand where food and gender justice intersect. The purpose of her research is to address the gendered power relations and gendered inequalities in food systems and agricultural practices.

This course meets online during the first 7 weeks of the semester. 

Using an intersectional lens, this course explores the contemporary legacy of structural racism on the food system and food culture in the United States. Students will learn strategies for promoting racial justice and equity, then use this knowledge to analyze and address real-world issues in their food studies interest areas. By the end of this course, students will be he knowledge and tools to advocate for, develop, and implement racial equity initiatives in the field of food studies.

This course meets online during the second  7 weeks of the semester. 

Abby Katz, M.A., is a third year PhD student in Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University School of Public Health. Her research interests are at the intersection of food, history, culture, policy, and health equity. Combined with her interdisciplinary education and experience working with several food-centered organizations, Abby’s lived experience with food apartheid and her understanding of the resulting disparate health outcomes informs her prioritization of Black and Latinx/e communities in her research. She is curious about the food environment— how individual food choices are shaped by physical/built, historical, policy and socio-cultural factors. Abby is particularly fascinated by social media food marketing as an aspect of the food environment, and plans to use mixed-methods to better understand these influences on Black and Latinx/e youth.

An accelerated survey of basic principles of nutrition applied to food studies: nutrient functions, nutritional requirements, food composition, menu planning & assessment, food safety, dietary patterns, diet & health issues, dietary recommendations, food products for nutritional purposes. For students with no previous training in nutrition or health.

Kayleen St. John is a registered dietitian with a Masters Degree in Clinical Nutrition from New York University. She works as the COO at Euphebe, a health care company that provides clients with whole food, plant-based meals in addition to hands on coaching and support. Prior to joining Euphebe, she developed and instructed the Culinary Nutrition Certificate Program at Natural Gourmet Institute and collaborated with Vegetarian Times magazine to develop and instruct the ‘Foundations of Plant-Based Nutrition.’

Global Food Cultures: Madrid, May 18-30, 2025

From tapas to the modernist cuisine of the Rocas brothers, Spain now looms large on the global culinary culture. Spanish chef Ferran Adrià has single-handedly changed the way we think and experience food, and has put Spain on the map not only for food lovers but also for food professionals and chefs. After the end of the Franco dictatorship in the 1970s, Spain has become a place for innovation and experimentation. At the same time, it boasts an amazing landscape in terms of traditional and artisanal food and wine production that is extremely successful for some products like jamón ibérico and Rioja wines, renowned all over the world, while other products struggle to acquire visibility.

Global Food Cultures: Madrid will explore how food traditions and heritage are being identified, supported, and promoted at the national and global levels, while examining their role and functions in Spaniards’ everyday life. Through visits to markets, bakeries, wholesale and retail outlets, tapas and wine bars, restaurants, and menu del día eateries we will examine how tradition and heritage are being brought into the twenty-first century in public spaces that are also symbolic for local and national identities. We will also meet food professionals and experts, food designers, and scholars that will help us better understand the dynamics of this unique country.