Ironbound Foodscapes

The identity of Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood is intimately connected to immigration and food. In 2017, Dr. Sahar Hosseini, Newest Americans project manager for urban landscape research, and two Global Urban Studies doctoral students, Gülse Eraydin and Thayane Brêtas, began conducting research on the neighborhood’s foodscape. Two years later, and with the assistance of multiple project partners, project research is now on-line.

Ironbound Foodscapes takes a look at the people who make and serve the food and the role that food plays in an immigrant neighborhood.

It also delves into the histories of the buildings that house these restaurants, and the stories they tell about Ironbound’s past and the people who made it. The focus is on food and landscape because they are both imbued with the material traces, complex histories, and multiple memories of the communities that have called Ironbound home.