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Tuesday, May 26, 2026
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Lehman Launches Bronx Food Humanities Program
Bronx Food Humanities' first student cohort, faculty, and institutional partners at the launch.
May 26, 2026
On May 21, Lehman College celebrated the launch of the Bronx Food Humanities Program with a reception at the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts. Supported by a $1.25 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the three-year multi-institutional initiative led by Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies Alyshia Gálvez offers a humanities-centered program of courses, experiential learning, and paid internships focused on food, culture, and community in the Bronx.
Lehman President Fernando Delgado reflected on the meaning of food humanities in his remarks. “‘Food humanities’ asks a straightforward question: how does food shape who we are? It’s the histories, the migrations, the labor, policy, and the family stories that move through every meal.”
The program, a collaboration between Lehman, Hostos and Bronx Community Colleges, local organizations, and the New York Botanical Garden, is part of the CUNY Beyond career-building initiative, and is designed to create research and leadership pathways in a wide range of fields.
Lehman student and aspiring architect Ashlin Davila, a member of the first cohort, said she wants to explore the relationship between food and the built environment—how communities are both literally and figuratively built around food.
A first-generation immigrant, Davila said she was inspired to join the program after reflecting on how immigration reshapes cultural food traditions and connections to identity. “One of the most interesting aspects was seeing how the way that we cooked our food changed when we moved to America,” she said.