This paper explores the negotiation of female gender identities in Archaic and Classical Greece through food preparation, more specifically cereal processing.4 I argue that a series of terracotta statuettes and vase-paintings of the Archaic and Classical periods representing women processing cereal were perceived as references to feminine industriousness and virtue, and belonged to the discourse on gender. Τheir archaeological contexts further suggest that they can be explained best as the material remains of ritual performance of female gender identities.