Zohran Mamdani wants to overhaul New York City’s food system. To help make that happen, he has appointed Siddhartha Sanchez, a lifelong vegan, as executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy (MOFP).
Sanchez is passionate about both food justice and sustainability. Before joining MOFP, he worked at the Bronx River Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to conserving and restoring the Bronx River corridor. During his time there, he helped pilot the first edible food forest at Concrete Plant Park, a former industrial site that was transformed into a public park in the 2000s. Planted in 2017, the food forest provided local residents with access to native berries and vegetables.
The Bronx River Alliance
Sanchez has also spent decades working in community advocacy and food policy, and in the 1990s, he founded a catering company specializing in vegan Dominican cuisine. In his new role at MOFP, he will help improve access to healthy food across the city, with a particular focus on low-income communities of color, where access to nutritious whole foods is disproportionately limited.
Change is urgently needed in New York City. While grocery prices are rising across the US, New Yorkers face food costs that are around 18 percent higher than the national average. Sanchez’s appointment marks the next step in Mamdani’s plan to reform the city’s food system. He has already proposed opening five city-owned grocery stores, with the first expected to open in the Bronx in 2027.
“New Yorkers are struggling to put healthy food on the table while grocery prices continue to rise. Building a city that people can afford means building a food system that works for everyone,” said Mamdani.
New York’s changing food system
New York City has long positioned itself as a leader in food system reform. Under former mayor Eric Adams, the city expanded access to healthy plant-based foods in schools, hospitals, and other city agencies.
In 2022, for example, all New York City public schools launched the Vegan Fridays initiative (now known as Plant-Powered Fridays), offering free, nutritious plant-based meals to around 930,000 students across the city.
Getty
In 2025, the New York City Health Department updated its Food Standards to place greater emphasis on whole-food, plant-based options and eliminate processed meats from 11 city agencies, including public schools, hospitals, senior centers, and shelters.
With Sanchez at the helm of MOFP, the city hopes to build on that progress. “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve the people of New York City—the city I grew up in and have dedicated my career to,” he said in a statement. “Food security is inseparable from racial and economic justice, and for too many New Yorkers—especially in low-income communities of color—access to healthy, affordable food remains out of reach.”
“I am committed to the Mamdani Administration’s vision of a city where every resident can thrive, and I look forward to building on the tremendous foundation MOFP has laid,” he continued.
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Charlotte is a VegNews editor and writer based in sunny Southsea on England's southern coast.
