The research within the Food research programme at CML focuses on a transition towards sustainable food production and consumption systems. We investigate from a very small to a very large scale, at a local, national or international level. We do so by researching for example molecular tools, food systems,…

Grasseni's contribution to this special feature on food cultures, food systems, and agriculture in Europe builds upon her ongoing project Food citizens? Collective food procurement in European cities: solidarity and diversity, skills and scale.

The ERC project 'Food citizens?' is a comparative analysis of a growing phenomenon in Europe: collective food procurement, namely networks of people who organize direct food production, distribution, and consumption.

'Food Citizens? An anthropological project on collective food procurement in European cities

Cristina Grasseni’s project

Sustainably produced food reduces CO2 emissions during production and promotes the region’s economy. The University is working to increase the number of organic, fair trade, vegetarian and vegan products in its restaurants.

Nearly all the university buildings have cafés and restaurants and in the city there are plenty of places to eat or drink. These include regular or fast-food facilities at local supermarkets, food stalls, snack bars or restaurants of all types and nationalities.

What does it mean to eat healthily and responsibly? This question is gaining a new urgency now that in many countries undernourishment is being overtaken by diseases of affluence, such as obesity, and we are also becoming more aware of the environmental impact of our eating habits. It’s time to take…

Once a month, the Europa Institute comes together to hear from its own staff members, guest researchers, or external scholars about their research plans, work in progress papers, or recently concluded projects relevant to European law. The Food for Thought-series is organised by Melanie Fink.

The HARVEST project explores the dietary choices that our hominin ancestors and relatives made, by recovering information on what they consumed, and how factors like environmental variation, intrinsic biology, and development of food processing technologies could have influenced their decisions.

The project 'Food citizens?' examines the consequences and premises of collective food procurement in three European cities (Rotterdam, Turin, and Gdańsk).

This project intends to provide the required knowledgebase for the design of novel mild intervention protocols to prevent fungal food spoilage.

By placing food at the centre of investigation, this Minor explores current-day debates on political, environmental, economic and cultural change at both the local and global levels.

The double issue of kritisk etnografi – Swedish Journal of Anthropology, has a question: Is Europe skilling for sustainable food? The two guest editors, Professor Maris Boyd Gillette from the University of Gothenburg and Professor Cristina Grasseni from Leiden University, have convened an esteemed…

Cristina Grasseni, Federico de Musso, Ola Gracjasz, Maria Vasile, Vincent Walstra and Marilena Poulopoulou are part of the 'Food citizens?' Research project.

Today, humanity produces sufficient calories, in theory, to feed the 7.7 billion people on the planet: the amount of food produced per person on the planet has gone up more than 40% since the 1960s. Yet, ironically, the prevalence of undernourishment – which had been declining for decades – has started…

This study focused on how households' food consumption and waste were adapted to lifestyles during COVID-19.

Huygens, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333 CA, Leiden

University Library, Witte Singel 27, 2311 BG, Leiden

Plexus Student Centre, Kaiserstraat 25, 2311 GN, Leiden

Snellius, Niels Bohrweg 1, 2333 CA, Leiden

Van Steenis, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC, Leiden

Schouwburgstraat, Schouwburgstraat 2, 2511 VA, The Hague

Lecture Hall, Einsteinweg 57, 2333 CC, Leiden

Kamerlingh Onnes Building, Steenschuur 25, 2311 ES, Leiden

Wijnhaven, Turfmarkt 99, 2511 DP, The Hague

Lipsius, Cleveringaplaats 1, 2311 BD, Leiden

ASLU 7 - A.E. de Hingh

How do different communities of residents in The Hague perceive and manage food waste in relation to citizenship (rights and responsibilities)?

Food relations (through production, distribution, circulation, exchange and waste) represent the embodiment of our relation to the environment.

The major objective of the study is to ascertain how Japanese colonialism affected the manner in which food was produced, processed, prepared and consumed in the colony, and how new attitudes towards these practices were constructed.

Pieter de la Court, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK, Leiden

Anna van Buerenplein, Anna van Buerenplein 301, 2595 DG, The Hague

A study by a Leiden-Wageningen group shows that present-day humans are biologically poorly equipped to deal with the toxins they are regularly exposed to in smoky environments: compared to earlier hominins, we modern humans are probably even worse off. The study appeared in Molecular Biology and Evolution.…

This is the first special issue of any organisation studies journal on food labour. Why is this a big deal? In this Introduction, we argue that the field should pay much more attention to the agri-food system and the work that goes into producing, distributing and consuming foodstuff. Food is such an…

We complete this thematic issue’s contribution on skill, food, and sustainability with a team report based on ethnographic research which focuses on reskilling for sustainability in multiple European locations and involving diverse social actors and stakeholders. The Food Citizens? project (2017-2024)…

How do the starchy botanical foodways reflect upon previous archaeological understandings in the northern and circum-Caribbean?

Comparing gazes between Turin and other cities in the global north.

The global agri-food system plays a critical role in food security and environmental issues.

Is Europe skilling for sustainable food?

On the first weekend of June a plot of land in Lutkemeerpolder, West Amsterdam, was occupied in order to host the Food Autonomy Festival. The event was organized in solidarity with local farms to protest against the development of Schiphol airport-oriented business park. Two of our PhD's, Maria Vasile…

On Friday 4th February 2022 we welcomed in hybrid format (in person and online live streaming) 154 registered participants, of which 97 online, to present the first results of the Food Citizens? ERC Consolidator project.

Creating a good life and new work values through foodwork?

“Neighborhood solidarity cannot compensate the absence of the State: a response from the local administration is needed”

Planet formation is a surprisingly homogeneous process that does not take place gradually from inside out, but that occurs everywhere at the same time in a proto-planetary disc, as Dave Lommen has discovered. He will obtain his doctorate this week based on his research into the dust around young stars…

What did our distant ancestors eat and how did they prepare their food? For the length of a month, experimental archaeologist Diederik Pomstra subjects himself to a rigorous palaeodiet. He is vlogging about his experiences to reach a non-academic audience.

Horizon Magazine published about urban food systems.

Arnold van der Valk on Food Council MRA.