“In Rotterdam you do not need to starve, you just need to know where to go” Insurgent enactments of citizenship among Dutch alternative food aid initiatives.

This study explores how grassroots food aid initiatives in Rotterdam, Gaarkeuken Rotterdam and Hotspot Hutspot, enact insurgent forms of citizenship through the provision of free and affordable food and meals. By organising aid beyond institutional norms, they are able to provide support to over a thousand households weekly. Amidst overlapping crises (covid-19, inflation, rising energy bills, housing shortages) such aid has become more and more necessary amongst austerity driven welfare cuts and the exclusionary practices of institutionalised food banks. Drawing on the concept of insurgent citizenship by Holston (2008), this study is embedded in ethnographic fieldwork using participant observation through volunteering and semi-structured interviews to analyse how insurgent citizenship is enacted by alternative food aid initiatives. Key findings include their flexibility and creativity to work beyond institutionalised norms and conditionalities. By navigating the logistical distribution of our food and revaluing voluntary labour as a tool for solidarity and care they build resistance against the neo-liberal governmentality. This research contributes to discussions on citizenship, poverty and food justice demonstrating how resistance can be enacted through non-confrontational acts of care to reimagine a more just society.