"A Seat at the Table" positions the Middle East and North Africa as a vital laboratory for food studies and globally-relevant theory. As part of the initiative, CMES aims to convene an interdisciplinary group of scholars to rethink foundational concepts such as class, race, gender, and political economy through the lens of regional food and foodways. Drawing on diverse perspectives—including those from less-represented disciplines such as art history, architecture, musicology, and geography, alongside comparative literature, anthropology, sociology, and history—the workshop links the intimate experience of food and drink to their broader function in processes ranging from war, governance, and commerce to popular memory and resistance. This approach addresses the uneven engagement of global food studies with the region and moves beyond overrepresented areas like the Levant and Egypt to develop theory grounded in the diverse histories and social formations of the wider MENA region.