This talk explores the relationships between foodways, the ways we produce, prepare, and consume foods, and periods of social transformation. Foodways offer a unique window into the historic process and experience of social transformations. At the same time, foodways, as they are conserved or changed, participate in processes of social transformation. Sarah will discuss the potentials of archaeology to contribute to histories of food and cuisine and highlight the important role of foods in the work of community formation in several case studies from the Cibola Region A.D. 1150-1400.