Legal landscapes around food security

This Chapter addresses the renewed tension between a production-centric vision of food security and broader concerns for environmental protection and public health. In light of recent crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, it questions the risk that legal and policy frameworks - under pressure to respond swiftly to global disruptions - may revert to a narrow understanding of food security, focused solely on food quantity and availability. Adopting both food security and right to food perspectives, the Chapter explores the central importance of nutrition, environmental protection and cultural acceptability. It critically examines legal definitions and public policies, assessing their capacity to address the multifaceted nature of food-related challenges, including the complex task of defining food preferences in culturally diverse contexts. Building on the understanding that food security and food sustainability are inseparable, the Chapter aims to identify how the legal framework should be oriented to ensure the full realisation of sustainable food security. It proposes a research agenda guided by the objective of food sustainability - an approach that seeks to balance food production, environmental integrity and cultural relevance, all essential for safeguarding the long-term viability of agricultural and food systems.