The Food and Agricultural History Network is a network for (especially young) researchers in this field, who present and discuss their own work as well as that from other scholars and new books. The network is an initiative by Amber Striekwold (UU) and Anna Teijeiro (VU). This is their website: fahnn.nl.
Program 2026-2027
Soybeans and Swamps by Caro Kreysel (PhD VU) & Flavors of Nieuw-West: Plates Full of Stories!’ by Nikki Manger. 14 September 15.30 – 17.00; and location TBD (Utrecht University City center)
Soybeans in Brazil and the Netherlands through the lens of swamps
My dissertation investigates the history of the soybean commodity chain in Brazil and the Netherlands through the lens of swamps in the second half of the twentieth century. I use the swamps of the Brazilian Pantanal and the Dutch Peel as casestudies to investigate how specific places became entangled with the logics, materialities and transnational configurations of soybean-based farming. In doing so, the dissertation seeks to complement histories that followed the soybean to different places by starting from the situated environmental histories of swamps.
The dissertation therefore seeks to offer a narrative of intensive agriculture from the margins of its expansion, complicating its expansion with a particular focus on the liquidity and volatility of swamps and showing how the movement of agricultural commodities unfolded alongside moving waters, peoples, knowledges and dynamic environments.
Caroline Kreysel is a PhD Candidate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
‘Smaken van Nieuw-West: borden vol verhalen! / ‘Flavors of Nieuw-West: Plates Full of Stories!
‘In my MA-research I explored the history of food culture in Nieuw-West and how food and culinary memories connect residents across generations. This led to my current project, ‘Smaken van Nieuw-West: borden vol verhalen! (‘Flavors of Nieuw-West: Plates Full of Stories’), which combines oral history with urban, migration, and culinary history. During the talk, I’ll present the findings from my research and the neighborhood project.
Nikki Manger is a social historian and community connector in Nieuw-West.
On December 1st, we welcome colleagues from Belgium working at the TRADICER Food Project. Date and time TBD. Location: Utrecht
More information will follow after summer break.
Book or article disccussion. December. Date and time TBD. Location: Utrecht
Let us know if you have a book or article you want to discuss!
Website voedselgeschiedenis.nl
Parallel to the FAHN website, Amber Striekwolda and Jon Verriet will revitalize the website www.voedselgeschiedenis.nl. This website is currently still in development but will contain information about Dutch Food and Agricultural History in the form of short blogs.
We hope that we can make use of the knowledge in this network to fill the website with interesting stories about Dutch Food and Agricultural History! The website is meant to inform students, journalists and other people who might be interested in Dutch Food and Agricultural History.
Pagina bijgewerkt: 29 Augustus 2026
