On the campaign trail, Zohran Mamdani’s frequently professed love for New York City often took the form of passionate paeans to its food, in all its infinite variety, from his favorite bodega sandwich (egg, cheese and jalapeños) to the chicken biryani at a beloved 24-hour kebab joint.
In his inaugural speech as mayor on Thursday, Mr. Mamdani once again placed food front and center, liberally salting his address with allusions to New York’s signature dishes and peppering it with shout-outs to the people who prepare them — from “halal cart vendors whose knees ache from working all day” to “cooks wielding a thousand spices.”
For Mr. Mamdani, who has proposed city-owned supermarkets to make pantry staples more affordable, food is a fundamental component of economic well-being, central to his vision of a more egalitarian city.
In his speech, he praised past mayors who pushed for a New York that “could belong to those who operate our subways and rake our parks, those who feed us biryani and beef patties, picanha and pastrami on rye.”
But to the mayor, food is also a source of identity, spiritual sustenance and pan-cultural unity.
He reached back in his memory to formative moments that bound him to the city he moved to as a child, “the city where I ate powdered doughnuts at halftime during A.Y.S.O. soccer games and realized I probably wouldn’t be going pro” and “devoured too-big slices at Koronet Pizza.”
And food was the core of the invitation he extended to New Yorkers to share his affection for their hometown.
“To live in New York, to love New York, is to know that we are the stewards of something without equal in our world,” Mr. Mamdani said. “Where else can you hear the sound of the steelpan, savor the smell of sancocho, and pay $9 for coffee on the same block? Where else could a Muslim kid like me grow up eating bagels and lox every Sunday?”
Andy Newman writes about New Yorkers facing difficult situations, including homelessness, poverty and mental illness. He has been a journalist for more than three decades.
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