The food system as a commons

This chapter aims to highlight the importance of implementing the shift from commodity to commons not only to redefine the understanding and role of food in itself. On the contrary, the de-commodifying power of the commons has to affect the entirety of the food system and as such redefine each single element that composes it. In our eyes, food cannot be dissociated from the broader food system that generates it. A radical and ecological transformation of our understanding of food could pass through thinking, performing and engaging with the food system as a commons. In order to launch our provocation and formulate some suggestions, the chapter is divided as follows. Section II introduces the concept of food systems and the different components that may be individually conceived as commons. Section III offers some thoughts on what it would mean to inscribe the food system into the paradigm of the commons. Section IV engages with practices and food policies which in our opinion could represent privileged platforms to conceive, implement and consolidate the idea of food systems as a commons.