Joanita Vroom, Suzan van de Velde, Miriam Müller
Rijksmuseum van Oudheden: Leemans hall
The NINO Annual Meeting is a gathering of advanced students and researchers in the field of Near Eastern studies – spanning antiquity to the early modern period. It offers a lively forum for sharing current projects, discussing new ideas, and connecting with colleagues across disciplines. This year’s event is co-organized by the Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University, the National Museum of Antiquities and the Netherlands Institute for the Near East.
This year’s theme, Food and Ritual in the Ancient to Early Modern Near East, highlights the vital role of food in religious practice, social organization, and cultural identity. From offerings and feasts to daily meals and symbolic consumption, food provides a unique lens through which to understand ritual practice and lived experience in the Near East.
The proverb “you are what you eat,” although seen as a cliché, has inspired significant research and influenced our dietary habits. Throughout history, from hunter-gatherer societies to empires, food has played a vital role in shaping our economies and environments. To survive, people require daily intakes of calories and nutrients. How societies gathered, grew, and processed food has always been essential to our understanding of earlier cultures in history and archaeology.
As part of the NINO Annual Meeting on January 29th, 2026, there will also be a tasting of recreated ancient recipes from the Near East.
10:15-10:30 | Introduction Food and Ritual by Joanita Vroom (Leiden University) and Miriam Müller (Leiden University)
10:30-11:15 | Keynote Feasting to Death by Susan Pollock (FU Berlin)
11:15-11:45 | Coffee break
11:45-12:45 | Lectures
12:45-14:30 | Lunch break
14:30-15:30 | Lectures
15:30-16:30 | Lightning session
16:30-17:00 | NINO Thesis Prizes ceremony: award by Miriam Müller (NINO), presentation by winners & closing
17:00-17:30 | Introduction Tasting Historical Recipes by Joanita Vroom (Leiden University)
17:30-18:30 | Reception and tasting by Youssef el-Abbassi (Making Food History)
19:00-21:00 | Evening event “Je bent wat je eet” by Suzan van de Velde (RMO)
Posters by Sebastiaan Berntsen & Carolien van Zoest (NINO), Andrés Martín García de la Cruz (NVIC/NINO), Daan Nijssen (VU Amsterdam) and Evangelia Vichou (Leiden University)
Admission: free; please register here.
If you wish to cancel your registration for in-person attendance, please use the button in your confirmation email so we may offer your seat to another participant.
UPDATE 9-1-2026: We have reached the maximum number of in-person participants. The online form cannot accept new registrations, unless participants have cancelled their registration.
Because in-person attendance is fully booked, we offer the opportunity to follow the event via livestream. Register here to receive the Zoom link (admission free; no Zoom account necessary).
Please refer to the RMO website for further details.
UPDATE 9-1-2026: We have reached the maximum number of in-person participants. It is possible to visit the museum on this evening (with valid entry ticket), but participation in event activities is fully booked. The evening event is not livestreamed.