Event: New York Food City
Thursday, July 9 at 111 Broadway in the Financial District.
Doors open 6:00 | Talk 6:30-7:30 | Book Signing 7:30-8:00 pm
New York’s food history is often told through its most iconic dishes and institutions, but the fuller story is shaped just as much by migration, labor, race, neighborhood change, and the everyday meals made in home kitchens and restaurants across the five boroughs. In this conversation, Alexander Smalls, Ruth Reichl, and Jane Ziegelman join moderator Julia Moskin to explore how the city’s culinary identity has been formed, contested, and reimagined over time.
Alexander Smalls is a chef, restaurateur, culinary historian, and James Beard Award-winning author whose work has been central to redefining how African American food is represented in fine dining. Through his restaurants, writing, and scholarship, Smalls has illuminated the profound influence of Black culinary traditions on American food culture and the story of New York dining.
Ruth Reichl is one of America’s most influential food writers and critics. As the former editor-in-chief of Gourmet and a longtime restaurant critic for The New York Times, she has chronicled decades of change in the city’s food landscape, documenting the restaurants, personalities, and cultural shifts that have helped define how New Yorkers eat.
Jane Ziegelman is the author of 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families, a landmark work of food history that uses the kitchens of New York’s Lower East Side to tell the story of immigrant life, adaptation, and the making of American food culture.
Together with New York Times food reporter Julia Moskin, they consider what New York eats—and what those meals reveal about immigration, identity, power, and who gets to shape the city’s story.
Non-alcoholic beverages generously provided by Sober in Central Park
Tickets are non-refundable. You will not receive a physical ticket. Your name will be on a list at the door. This event will not be recorded.
Please note that this event is at 111 Broadway (corner of Thames St) at the NYC Food Stories by Kitchen Arts & Letters pop-up store.
