On a special episode A Taste of the Past, Linda Pelaccio is joined by Cathy Kaufman, the managing editor of Savoring Gotham: Celebrating the Making of the Definitive Companion to New York City’s Food.

New York City boasts the world’s most diverse, fascinating, and ground-breaking food scene. Whether dining in iconic or trend-setting restaurants, noshing on vibrant street food prepared by new immigrants, or filling one’s basket at markets catering to ethnic heritage or gourmet aspirations, New York City’s opportunities for cosmopolitan eating are unparalleled. New York also has pioneered solutions to complex issues, from launching farmers’ markets and tilling urban gardens be they in vacant lots or on pristine rooftopsto politically-charged battles over licensing laws, school food and soda sizes.

Cathy Kaufman (Chair), aka, dictator-for-life, has been chair of CHNY since 2003. She is Senior Editor of Savoring Gotham and of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, and writes for many publications. She teaches culinary history at The New School and the Institute of Culinary Education 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.