Using food democracy to overcome the commodification-driven tragedy of the EU’s food system commons

<ns3:p>Current European food system is unsustainable, being leading causes of Non-communicable diseases, having a significant environmental impact, and causing numerous socioeconomic inequalities. The fact that politics governance conceives food as a commodity is a core feature of this unsustainability, so several voices have called for a transition to a politics governance that considers food as commons, namely a good with elementary forms other than profit that belong to the whole population. Central to this transition is the fact that in a politics governance where food is conceived as a commons, those sharing a concern for the commons musty be able to equally participate in addressing it. A commonification of the food system thus requires finding a new balance of forces between governments, industries and the people. This paper describes why food democracy is necessary for this transition of politics governance to occur, while making sure that the people’s right to the management of the commons is respected. However, we specify that the realisation of a food democracy can occur so only insofar as both the deliberative and epistemic properties of democracy are maximised. That is, only insofar as the increase in citizens’ participation goes hand in hand with the regulation of the settings in which the participation occurs. By doing so, it is possible to realise a sustainably governed food system commons capable of addressing four main challenges of current food systems: tackling the Commercial Determinants of Health, enhancing civic education, setting an adversarial democracy and increasing awareness for the imperative of responsibility.</ns3:p>