Food Justice is the acknowledgement that eating, growing and selling nutritious food is a right for all people. It is community-led, participatory and locally grown while also striving to respect peoples & communities, the environment and the land. [1]

Food Justice matters because food is being weaponized against the poor, communities of color and indigenous populations. [1] Businesses–in the name of capitalism–have crucially impacted Black and Indigeous People and People of Color (BIPOC) communities via colonization, commodification, and managing land and resources with negligence to those communities, and the environment. Thus intensifying food insecurity, poverty, poor mental & physical health, and so much more. [4]

Food Insecurity is the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food for an active, healthy lifestyle. Hunger refers to a physical sensation while food insecurity refers to lack of resources. Although related they are different. [5]

Sustainable agriculture and food systems contain 3 main pillars:

Environmentally Healthy [2]

– How it affects soil health, pollution levels, water usage, etc. [3]

Socially Equitable

– BIPOC centered, considering farm worker well-being, etc.

Economically Equitable

– Value-based, organic, locally-grown, etc.

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According to Nyeleni’s 2007 Global Forum for Food Sovereignty, food sovereignty has 6 main components: [6]

Centers Food For People: Food sovereignty highlights the right for all people and communities to have access to healthy, adequate food.

Values Food Providers: Food sovereignty respects the rights of those who cultivate, harvest and process food; including, women, local/family farms, indigenous people, migrant and fisheries workers.

Localizes Food Systems: Food sovereignty centers food providers and food consumers so they can take the lead on food issues and how to solve those issues locally.

Puts Control Locally: Food sovereignty considers the rights of food providers to have control over the land, seeds and water. It rejects the privatization of natural materials.

Builds Knowledge and Skill: Food sovereignty evaluates and regards how local knowledge is shared. It respects the ways that generational process is passed down in a way that does not damage the health and well-being of the people and environment.

Works With Nature: Food sovereignty values food processes that works with ecosystems, avoids environmental damage, and strengthens local food systems when considering climate change.

Oakland has a rich history with food justice efforts. Many of the key players in food justice policies, programs and movements came from communities of color. For example in 1969, the Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast for School Children Program, not only fed tens of thousands hungry youth, nutritious, free food, but also informed the 1975 federal School Breakfast Program which today feeds over 14 million children breakfast. [7]

Another key player was Oakland’s Brown Beret’s. They not only had food and health programs of their own, but also supported the United Farm Workers movement ( a labor union for farm workers) and the Land Grant Movement, which sought to restore New Mexican land grants to the descendants of their Spanish colonial and Mexican owners. [8]