Cristina Grasseni’s project

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,…

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.

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

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

University Library, Witte Singel 27, 2311 BG, Leiden

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.

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

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…

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

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

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.

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.

DIGIFOOD is a transnational research project that investigates how data governance can support equitable and sustainable digital food systems. Around the world, digital technologies are transforming agriculture. Sensors in soil, satellites in space, and mobile phones in farmers’ hands are generating…

Isotopic insights on human diet from the later stone age to Neolithic in Northwest Africa, Morocco

Food waste is a defining inefficiency of the modern food system, with profound implications for resource use, climate change, and circular economy transitions. This dissertation examines food waste through two complementary lenses: the prevention of avoidable food waste and the valorization of unavoidable…

Lipsius, Cleveringaplaats 1, 2311 BD, Leiden

FSW building, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK, Leiden

Snellius, Niels Bohrweg 1, 2333 CA, Leiden

Plexus Student Centre, Kaiserstraat 25, 2311 GN, Leiden

Kamerlingh Onnes Building, Steenschuur 25, 2311 ES, Leiden

Huygens, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333 CA, Leiden

Schouwburgstraat, Schouwburgstraat 2, 2511 VA, The Hague

Van Steenis, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC, Leiden

Lecture Hall, Einsteinweg 57, 2333 CC, Leiden

Wijnhaven, Turfmarkt 99, 2511 DP, The Hague

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

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

ASLU 7 - A.E. de Hingh

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

Plastics have become an integral part of modern society due to their versatility and durability.

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…

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.…

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…

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…

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)…

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

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

Front-of-pack nutrition labelling, origin labelling, regulation of voluntary green claims made by food business operators: the EU is currently looking into various reforms of the legal framework for food information to consumers. The goal: healthier and more sustainable diets.

Vincent Delhomme delivered a keynote speech on the topic of food affordability at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, on 22 January 2025. The event focused on achieving a balanced food system that is sustainable, healthy, and affordable.