Food has always played a central part in mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani ’s political career. He ran for New York State Assembly on the slogan “Roti and Roses” —Mamdani is Indian on his mother’s side and Ugandan on his father’s—and much of his campaigning for mayor took place over plates of biryani, inside kebab restaurants, or with a cup of chai in hand. “There is no life without food,” Mamdani told Bon Appétit earlier this year. “When I speak to New Yorkers about what you need to live a dignified life in this city, food is non-negotiable. Yet there are so many who are priced out of it, whether it’s when they’re buying their produce or whether it’s trying to find a place that they can sit down and eat with their family.”

It makes sense, then, that on the night of New York City’s mayor

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