Departing from the dominant valuation of food as a commodity that is so pervasive in the industrial food system, Jose Luis Vivero will deconstruct the idea of food as a for-profit commodity and frame it as a commons, a public good, and a human right. The rationale is based on (a) its essential nature for every human being, (b) the multidimensionality of food that cannot be fully valued in monetary terms, and (c) the many real-life examples, throughout history and today, that prove that all societies have treated food as a commons and a public good. The absolute commodification of food is therefore a historical anomaly.
If we have Universal Health Coverage and Education for All, why not Universal Food Access (UFA)? A real alternative to the broken industrial food system that plunders natural resources, depletes nature, and emits one-third of all greenhouse gases. This UFA would return power to the people and the state, transforming the capitalist market as just another allocation mechanism created by the state to serve the people.

Jose Luis Vivero is a humanitarian professional, food systems thinker, committed scholar and anti-hunger activist with 25 years of experience in food and nutrition security policy, the right to food and food sovereignty. He has conducted research on agri-food transitions, narratives and practices to consider "food as a commons & public good" and not simply a commodity. He is one of the editors of the Routledge Handbook on Food as a Commons (2019) and his research focuses on (a) territories of commons in Europe, (b) monitoring food system transitions, and (b) resilient food systems in fragile environments. He used to collect periwinkles, crabs and shrimps on the rocky coasts of Galicia, and figs, asparagus and wild berries in Andalusia. So food is a commons by default.