Join us as we host artist, chef, publisher, and author bryant terry for an immersive evening exploring the intersections of ancestral foodways, Black agrarian thought, community-based art practice, and food justice.

terry opens with a talk tracing the evolution of his two decades of work, illuminating how memory, land, and cultural resilience inform his creative and political commitments. He then performs Recipe for Staying Curious—a ritualized, recipe-shaped spoken-word piece that transforms kitchen practice into a framework for lifelong inquiry. Organized around intention, preparation, improvisation, iteration, and community, the performance invites participants to consider curiosity as both a discipline and a liberatory act. Following the talk, attendees will engage in a sensory exploration of spices and herbs—some sourced from regional farms—using touch, scent, and sound. This interactive exercise, rooted in terry’s culinary and artistic methodologies, encourages reflection on how sensory experience shapes memory, meaning, and our relationships to food and land. The evening will conclude with brief remarks about his latest book, The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2025.

The Food Studies Program and Food and Social Justice Action Research (FJAR) Lab are proud to host this event as a part of the FJAR Lab’s “Understanding Food and Environmental Justice through Music” Initiative. The evening is co-sponsored by the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University.

The event is part of our 2025-26 series “Food and Democracy,” supported in part by The New School’s university-wide strategic initiative on Democracy and Culture.