Dr. Lewis conducts archaeological and ethnographic research on the relationship between food, politics, landscape, and environment from prehistory to the present. Her primary area of study is the Middle East, especially Yemen, where she has spent more than three years living and working. Her archaeological work investigates the role of the people of the Arabian Peninsula in international Indian Ocean trade routes and the spread of agricultural techniques and culinary innovation in pre-Islamic times. She has conducted fieldwork in Yemen, Palestine, Oman, Belize, New Mexico, Missouri, and North Carolina and has traveled extensively in the Middle East. Dr. Lewis received her PhD from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago in 2005