The People:

Cathy Kaufman (Chair), aka, dictator-for-life, has been chair of CHNY since 2003.  She was Associate Editor of Savoring Gotham (OUP 2015) and a Senior Editor of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America (OUP 2004), and writes for many publications. She is an adjunct professor of Food Studies at The New School and New York University and is the author of Cooking in Ancient Civilizations; she loves foie gras, but to atone for her gluttony, can be found in Chinatown twice a week, practicing tai chi.

Linda Pelaccio (Vice Chair & Scholar’s Grant) has been a CHNY member since 1993, and served for several years as Program Chair. She helped bring the TV Food Network to life as one of the early writers and producers. Linda is now the host of a weekly radio podcast, ‘A Taste of the Past,’ on Heritage Radio Network. She was a contributing writer to the former website and cookbook series, MinuteMeals, and is a contributing writer to Savoring Gotham. She splits her time between NYC and Old Chatham, NY where her vegetable gardens reign.

Carolyn Vaughan (Programming Co-Chair) has been cochair of the Program Committee since the dawn of time [or, since 2007]. Hers is is a familiar name, and perhaps face, to CHNY members as keeper of the program registration lists. In her spare time, she is a freelance writer and editor, specializing in art books and exhibition catalogues, and she recently wrote the text for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2015 art book/engagement calendar, Art of the Table. She has a serious sweet tooth and her primary culinary interest is making and eating baked goods.

Julia Mucci (Treasurer and Membership Liaison) came into this world as her mother was preparing food for the Feast of the Seven Fishes. She has felt a primal link to Italian-American foodways ever since. Julia holds an MS from Syracuse University and is a former public-radio broadcaster. She is now a librarian and archivist, with a Masters in Library Science. Julia is also a long-standing volunteer with the Astoria CSA, where she leads the CSA Culinary History Book Group.

Donna Gelb (Public Relations), a food writer and recipe developer, has been an active member of CHNY since 2003 and served on the board since 2008.  A native New Yorker, her interest in food began as a teenager growing up in Spain, Switzerland, and England. Back in New York she trained at Peter Kump’s, which led to regular stints of recipe testing for The New York Times Magazine, and a column in The New York Daily News.  She has collaborated with Francis Mallmann and Peter Kaminsky on two books:  the award-winning Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way (Artisan 2009) and Mallmann on Fire (Artisan 2014).

Charity Robey (Programming Co-Chair) has served as “a laboring oar” on the CHNY Program Committee since 2010, providing culinary, organizational, and janitorial services as required. She is a feature writer, and columnist for the Shelter Island Reporter where she writes Island Profile, interviews with notable Shelter Island people, and Off the Fork, a column on home-cooking. Her interests include culinary history, sourdough bread, agricultural practices, fish, and shell fishing.

James Malin (Outreach) is Science Reference Associate at New York University’s Coles Science Center and a dual Master’s student earning a MA in Food Studies (NYU) and a MSLIS in Library and Information Science (Long Island University). His research interests focus on the intersection of information in food studies in the sciences and humanities. He keeps busy on the membership committee of the Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition Division of the Special Libraries Association, Library Services Liaison and Scholarly Communications Coordinator of the Graduate Association for Food Studies, and Secretary of NYU’s Food Studies Graduate Society.

Christine Dzujna (Secretary) is a recent graduate of the Master’s in Food Studies program at NYU where she pursued her interest in food culture and history and the ways in which cuisines developed and were shaped over time by agricultural advances, politics, and technology. She is using her degree, along with her background in corporate legal and compliance policy, to help improve the food system and address food injustices.  She lives in CT where she has a vast circle of foodie friends and family and a growing herb and vegetable garden where she spends many satisfying hours.

Our Leaders for Eating and Reading:

Renée Marton (Culinary Coordinator) spent the first chapter of her culinary life as a chef in NYC French restaurants, including Restaurant Florent. The second chapter involved the acquisition of an MA in Food Studies from NYU, and a return to writing about food history and gastronomy. She has written widely on foodways, and commercial food industries. Her fist book, Rice: A Global History, was published by Reaktion Books in 2014. She also teaches at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York.

Ari Ariel (Editor, NYFoodStory) teaches at the University of Iowa. He has a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern studies from Columbia University and a diploma in Classical Culinary Arts from the French Culinary Institute (now the International Culinary Center). His interests include migration, ethnic and national identity, and culinary history and foodways.

Karen Berman (Editor, Member News) is a freelance writer and editor who specializes in food. She is the author of five cookbooks, including Friday Night Bites: Kick Off the Weekend with Recipes and Crafts for the Whole Family (Running Press, 2009) and an illustrated history, North American Indians: Traditions and Ceremonies (World Publications, 1998). She has worked in various editorial capacities on more than 50 other books. A prolific writer, she has contributed articles to publications such as The New York Times and Wine Enthusiast Magazine, and to websites such as BookTrib.com. She currently serves as senior content editor at TheWeiserKitchen.com. An honors graduate of Mount Holyoke College, Karen holds a certificate in cuisine from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Her ongoing culinary studies have taken her as far afield as the Thai House Cooking School in Thonburi, Thailand. In her previous position as a newspaper reporter and editor, she twice won the National Press Club Award for Consumer Journalism.