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Scholars’ Grant

CHNY proudly supports active researchers in the field of culinary history through its annual Scholars’ Grants.

Let’s be frank: original research is expensive, and most universities in our current climate favor STEM projects. Within the small (but growing) number of schools with formal Food Studies programs, food culture, and its cousin, culinary history, remain academic stepchildren, hard-pressed to obtain financial support for essential research. The situation is even more dire for independent scholars and others who lack minimal institutional support.

Starting in 2005, CHNY has annually given awards to researchers, regardless of academic affiliation, seeking support for their endeavors. What started modestly as a single $1,000 stipend was magnified in impact in 2012, when The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts recognized the importance of the CHNY Scholars Grant program with generous financial support, enabling CHNY to award two grants, for $3,500 and $1,500. That support opened a floodgate to applications, and The Foundation generously responded by increasing its support in 2017 to $7,500, allowing three grants: $3,500, $2,500, and $1,500. We are deeply honored that The Foundation continues to support our Scholars’ Grants program and will enable us to award three grants in 2022.

2021 Scholars' Grant Recipients

SCHOLARS' GRANT: $3,500

Leni Sorensen

 "Beets are Too Old Fashioned, Henry Orr, A Black Caterer in Early Federal Washington, D.C."

 

SCHOLARS' GRANT: $2,500

Anne Lally

"Tracing Unangax̂ culinary identities: Indigenous food practices and colonial influence in the Aleutian Islands"

 

SCHOLARS' GRANT: $1,500

Keri Matwick and Kelsi Matwick

"Culinary Biographies: Charting South Africa's History Through Cooking, Consumption, and Language"


2022 Scholars' Grant

Applications for the 2022 Scholars’ Grants will open on April 1; completed applications are due no later than June 17, 2022.

Applications are judged blindly by a committee and consist of two parts: 

  1. An online Cover Sheet and Release that includes the applicant’s name and contact details, a current c.v., and Project Title.
  2. A 500 word proposal describing the project for which funding is sought, uploaded as a pdf. The proposal should be headed by the Project Title, but must not include any other personally identifying information. Including such information will disqualify the applicant.

Questions? Contact us at:
scholars@culinaryhistoriansny.org

Scholars' Grant Application

Projects that Qualify for Scholars' Grants Requirements

The CHNY Scholars’ Grants support current, ongoing research projects that will culminate in a book, article, paper, film, or other scholarly endeavor, including ephemera, performance, and online.

Scholars’ Grants do not cover expenses in connection with publication of completed research, such as illustration permissions, etc.

Applicants for the CHNY Scholars’ Grants must indicate how the Scholars’ Grants will further their projects, such as through defraying research and travel expenses, targeted conference attendance, or other activities related to the applicant’s project.

Scholars’ Grant recipients will present their findings to Culinary Historians of New York, either in a live program (Zoom or in-person), as an article to be included in NYFoodStory: The Journal of the Culinary Historians of New York, or in another appropriate forum.

Past Scholars’ Grant Recipients

2020

Scholars' Grant: $3,500

Daniela Gutierrez Flores

"Heavenly Food and Earthly Fires: Cooking and Spirituality in Colonial Latin America"

Scholars' Grant: $2,500

Patricia Jurado, Gojko Barjamovic and Pia Sörensen

"Ancient Bread: An Experimental Approach"

Scholars' Grant: $1,500

Saman Hassibi and Amir Sayadabdi

"Treasure of Appetite: Food in 15th Century Iran as told by Boshaq At’ame"

2019

Scholars' Grant: $3,500

Suzanne Cope

"Feeding the Revolution: Female Black Panther Party Leaders In New York City and the Power of a Hot Breakfast to Inspire Political Change"

Scholars' Grant: $2,500

Kerry Knerr

"Troubling Paradise: Tiki Bars and American Imperial Imaginaries"

Scholars' Grant: $1,500

Eric Rath

"Japanese Cuisine and a Mouse’s Tale"

2018

Scholars' Grant: $3,500

Valerio Farris

"Culinary Culture of the Spanish Roma"

Scholars' Grant: $2,500

Aleksandra Bajka-Kopacz

"’Old Polish’ Cuisine"

Scholars' Grant: $1,500

Kathryn Crossley

"Butlers and Common Room Men: Wine, Class, and Conviviality in 19th Century Oxford Colleges"

2017

Scholars' Grant: $3,500

Claire Alsup

"Colatura di Alici: How One Town on the Amalfi Coast Preserved Ancient Roman Fish Sauce"

Scholars' Grant: $2,500

Elizabeth Zanoni

"Flight Fuel: Pan Am and the Creation of Inflight Cuisines, 1930-1980"

Scholars' Grant: $1,500

Tove Danovich

"When Kosher Isn’t Kosher: 100 Years of Murder, Crime, and Fraud"

2016

Scholars' Grant: $3,500

Stacy Williams

"Recipes for Resistance: Culinary Writings from American Feminists, 1875-2005"

Scholars' Grant: $1,500

Anthony Buccini

"From Kongri to Diri ak Djondjon: Slavery, Creolization, and Culinary Genesis in Saint Domingue and Independent Haiti"

2015

Scholars' Grant: $3,500

Francis and Bronwen Percival

"Every up-to-date cheesemaker knows: How starter cultures changed cheese, 1880-1930"

Scholars' Grant: $1,500

Professor Emily Arendt

"Making Politics Palatable: Food and Partisanship in the Early American Republic."

2014

Scholars' Grant: $3,500

Professor Joy Fraser: George Mason University

"Honest Poverty versus Foreign Fakery: Popular Histories of Haggis and Culinary Historical Corrective"

Scholars' Grant: $1,500

Scott Alves Barton: PhD candidate, New York University

"Feeding the Gods: Afro-Brazilian Street Foods and dendé"

2013

Scholars' Grant: $3,500

Professor Jennifer Wallach: University of North Texas

"Eating High on the Hog: African-Americans, Food Reform, and Racial Uplift."

Scholars' Grant: $1,500

Professor Eric Dursteler: Brigham Young University

"Around the Mediterranean: Foodways and Identity."

2012

Scholars' Grant: $3,500

India Mandelkern: PhD candidate, University of California at Berkeley

"In Da Club: Dining and Taste-making in 18th Century London"

Scholars' Grant: $1,500

Professor Larry H. Spruill: Morehouse College

"Down By the Creek: Cooking with Rebecca Taylor in Early Eastchester’s Guion Tavern"

2010

Scholars' Grant: $1,000

Kimberly L. Sorensen: M.A., Bard Graduate Center, NYC

"Research on the carved mahogany cake boards used to raise designs on New Year’s Cakes in early nineteenth century New York."

2009

Scholars' Grant: $1,000

Ellen Schnepel, Independent Scholar

"The Cooking of History: Early Travelogues as Gastronomic Adventure."

2008

Scholars' Grant: $1,000

Willa Zhen, PhD candidate, School of Oriental and Asian Studies, London, UK

"The Transmission of Knowledge in Cantonese Cooking Schools."

2007

Scholars' Grant: $1,000

Megan J. Elias, Professor, Queensborough Community College

"Cooking the Books: Nationalism, Regionalism, and American Cookbooks, 1865-1917."

2006

Scholars' Grant: $1,000

Elizabeth M. Simms, Independent Scholar

"Tuskegee Experiment Station / Papers of George Washington Carver"

2005

Scholars' Grant: $1,000

Elizabeth Alsop, PhD candidate, CUNY Graduate Center

"America Eats Project"

Contributions to the CHNY Scholar’s Grant Fund
Culinary Historians of New York would like to increase the amount or number of grants given in the future and contributions to the scholarship fund are encouraged. Further information is available by writing to us at ScholarsGrant@culinaryhistoriansny.org.

Culinary Historians of New York is a tax-exempt organization under § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Please consult your tax advisor for advice on the tax deductibility of contributions.

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