» read essay

---

Scott Alves Barton is a doctoral candidate in NYU Food Studies program. His doctoral work is focused on the intersection of secular and sacred cuisine as a marker of ethnic and cultural identity in Northeastern Brazil, using documentary film and written text. Grant funding from the Council on Culture and Media, CLACS, Steinhardt’s Dean’s Grant and the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, NY Culinary Historians, Julia Child Foundation, André and Simone Soltner Foundation, the American Philosophical Society and the Ruth Landes Foundation have financed Scott’s research.

Scott has worked for more than twenty-five years as an Executive Chef, Restaurant and Product Development Consultant, and, Culinary School Teacher. Ebony named Scott one of the top twenty-five African-African American Chefs. Scott is an alumnus of the School for American Chefs. He has been a fellow of Instituto Sacatar in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil the Tepoztlán Institute for Transnational History of the Americas in Tepoztlán, Mexico, The Issues in Critical Investigation at Vanderbilt University and is a fellow of the Brazilian NGO for Afro-Brazilian folkloric cultural heritage practices: Fundaçao Cultural Palmares.

He’s been featured as a chef on BayCafe TV, CBS Early Show-Chef on a Shoestring, the TV Food Network, Gourmet Magazine and Food Arts. He’s been interviewed for his research on TV Rede Bahia, Solteropolis, A Tarde newspaper and other periodicals. His recipes are included in the Jocelyn Diabetes Cookbook, The Southern Foodways Community Cookbook and Tavis Smiley’s Pass it Down Cookbook. He has presented his work at numerous national and international conferences, has been a guest lecturer at several universities. Scott has served on the Board of Southern Foodways Alliance and the James Beard Foundation Cookbook awards. Scott was recently featured on the PBS program, A Chef’s Life. Scott currently is an adjunct professor at NYU and a culinary instructor at the Institute for Culinary Education, (ICE).