Dr. Amy Bentley

Biography

Amy Bentley is a Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University. She has earned recognition as the 2024-25 NYU Humanities Fellow and will receive the 2024 NYU Distinguished Teaching Award. A food historian, her research interests include the social, historical, and cultural contexts of food. Bentley authored "Inventing Baby Food: Taste, Health, and the Industrialization of the American Diet" and co-edited works like "Practicing Food Studies" and "Food for Thought: Nourishment, Culture, Meaning." Her academic contributions span various topics, particularly the history of food in the recent past. Current research projects investigate the historical perspectives of food within hospitals and the cultural contexts surrounding meat and dairy alternatives, as well as food waste and flavor's role in human and planetary health. Bentley has been actively involved in several food-related academic and applied projects, including the NYU digital archive on Food and COVID-19 and is a co-founder of the NYU Urban Farm Lab. She has served as Editor-in-Chief for "Food, Culture, and Society: An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research" and held roles on various editorial boards. Bentley's teaching includes courses that explore the intersections of food, culture, and globalization.

Research Interests