Food Democracy

Feeding ourselves and our offspring is the first thing all living creatures do. So the very existence of hunger belies democracy. No one chooses to go hungry or let their children starve. So where we see hunger, we know people are being denied choice. They are being denied voice in their society.

By contrast, food democracy means the right of all to an essential of life—safe, nutritious food. It also suggests fair access to land to grow food and fair return for those who labor to produce it. Food democracy concerns itself with the future as well: It implies economic rules that encourage communities to safeguard the soil, water, and wildlife on which all our lives and futures depend.

Key Small Planet Institute titles include:
Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet, by Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé, Tarcher/Penguin, 2002
Diet for a Small Planet, by Frances Moore Lappé, Ballantine Books, 1971, 1975, 1982, 1991
World Hunger: Twelve Myths, by Frances Moore Lappé, Joseph Collins, Peter Rosset and Luis Esparza, Grove Press, 1986. Updated and revised, 1999

Check out this page from the Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders for a terrific online list of food and agriculture resources.

Films about Food Democracy
Recommended feature-length and documentary shorts on food, farming, hunger, and health. Click below for downloadable PDFs.

Media that matters: Good Food
Media on Food, Farming, and Health

True Cost of Food
TCOF is a 15-minute animated video produced by the Sierra Club National Sustainable Consumption Committee, telling of the environmental problems resulting from the way agribusiness is raising our food. It encourages people to buy local or organic food and to eat less meat, with the meat they eat being grass-fed and pasture-raised. It is an educational tool that can be used to introduce discussions of food issues. You can download a discussion guide for the video on the project’s website, linked above; the video is available in DVD or VHS by writing to .