What food security really means

Imagine you’re all set to surprise your best friend with a birthday cake, but when you get to the supermarket, the flour shelf is bare. So you head to the local baker to buy a cake instead, but they’re not even open today. They haven’t been able to get any flour for weeks. In a last attempt, you pop round to a neighbour’s, but they’re in the same boat. So, you give up on your cake-making plans and bring a card instead.

Not long ago, the idea of empty shelves felt like something out of a zombie movie: unreal, and definitely not something we expected to see here in Europe. Then COVID-19 happened, and suddenly everyone knew what empty shelves looked like.

This is what happens when food security is at risk. 

Food security affects people all over the world, including every person reading this article. Let’s take a closer look and find out why it matters, how it’s connected to climate change and biodiversity, and what you can do to help create a more secure and sustainable future.

What is food security, exactly?

Food security is not just about having something to eat today. It means food in your cupboards, food on the supermarket shelves when you need more, and food growing in the fields to restock those shelves at the next harvest. And if that harvest fails? It also means knowing you won’t go hungry, because there are other places to get food from. 

Food security sounds straightforward, but there’s a bit more to it than first meets the eye. 

Is there enough food being grown? 

First off, let’s do a little myth-busting. 

Are people really starving because we just can’t feed 8 billion mouths? Not at all! We actually grow more than enough food to feed everyone on Earth.² But food is not always shared fairly. Some areas have too much while others don’t have enough, and 30-40% of food gets lost or wasted.³

Imagine you stop by a friend’s house to ask for a slice of bread, and they say, “Oh no, sorry, I don’t have enough for myself.” But as you leave, you notice their bin is full of perfectly good bread. How would that make you feel? This shows that simply growing enough food isn’t always enough to ensure everyone eats. 

Can people afford and reach the food they need? 

Even when food makes it to your neighbourhood, getting your hands on it isn’t always easy. 

In some areas,  known as food deserts,  fresh and healthy food is hard to find. In these places, people often struggle to access nutritious meals. For many, high prices or low wages make eating a balanced diet feel more like a luxury than a daily reality. This can lead to malnutrition and health problems. 

Is the food good for you? 

Food security is about having food that gives you the energy, nutrients, and strength you need to grow, stay healthy, and feel your best. 

Imagine if the only thing you could eat all day, every day, was caramel popcorn. You’d get calories, sure. The popcorn-only diet might even be fun for a movie night. But before long, you’d feel drained, cranky, and definitely not your best self. A secure food system makes sure we’re not just full, but properly fuelled.

Can people rely on having food now and in the future? 

You can think of the food system like your electricity supply. You flip a switch and expect the light to come on, just like you expect the supermarket shelves to be full of food. 

But what if a storm hits? Bad weather can damage crops just like lightning can knock out the power. Or maybe a neighbour cuts through your power cable while gardening, similar to how a war or political conflict can block food from getting through. A problem on the other side of the world can impact the food on our supermarket shelves. 

That’s why a secure food system needs backup, like candles in a cupboard or a power bank for your phone. In food terms, that might look like community food banks and gardens, local warehouses with plenty of pantry staples, or neighbours sharing what they’ve grown. Having local farmers and food producers also gives communities more control over their food supply.

Today’s food system is built to be fast and efficient, but it often doesn’t leave much wiggle room for problems. It follows a “just in time” model, with food delivered only when it’s needed and little stored in reserve.⁴ That works fine when everything’s going smoothly, and it can help cut back on storage costs and food waste. But when problems happen, things like transport delays can quickly lead to shortages, showing just how fragile the system can be.

Stability means having plans in place that help us bounce back when things go wrong, so people can keep eating well no matter what surprises come our way.

Why is food security at risk?

Food doesn’t just appear on our plates. It’s grown in fields, caught in oceans, raised on farms, carefully packaged and transported across long distances. 

This whole journey is part of the food system. It crosses borders and brings together countless people: from the family member who cooked your meal, to the shop assistant who sold it, the truck driver who drove it across countries, the farmer who grew it, the scientist who developed the irrigation system. It even needed the ancient human who first took that wild plant and began growing it for food, saving and sharing its seeds for generations. Isn’t it incredible to think about how many people helped you eat your lunch today?

But right now, food systems are under pressure from all sides:

• Climate change brings droughts, floods, heatwaves and storms that damage crops, reduce harvests, and make farming harder.⁵
• Conflict can disrupt trade, destroy farmland, and force people to flee their homes, making it harder to grow or access food.⁶
• Biodiversity loss means we’re losing the variety of plants, animals, and microbes that help keep our food systems healthy and resilient.⁷

Ironically, growing our food is a contributor to these three problems, as well as a victim:

1. Food production creates over a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions.⁸ But it also suffers from climate change.  
2. Growing our food uses about 70% of the world’s fresh water, and when water gets scarce, it can lead to conflict and disrupt farming.^{9 10}
3. Agriculture is the leading driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, destroying habitats for wildlife, including pollinators such as bees, wasps and butterflies. But we need these pollinators to produce our food.¹¹

Why we’re not all in the same boat

In some ways, food security is a problem for everyone, because we all need to eat. But when food becomes harder to get, it doesn’t affect everyone equally. If prices go up, wealthier people might worry, but they can usually still afford what they need. For others, it can mean skipping meals or choosing cheaper, less healthy options just to get by.

When food security is less strong, it can also lead to a surprising crisis: a place grows more than enough food, yet local people still go hungry. How is that possible?

Imagine your village harvests mountains of corn. But then a buyer from another country offers to pay four times what your neighbours can afford. You’ve got a family to support, so who do you sell to? That kind of choice isn’t about greed, it’s often just someone trying to get by. But it means the food grown nearby doesn’t always stay nearby. That’s why people can go hungry even when food is growing all around them. 

The good news? You can be part of the solution. 

What you can do for food security

It’s easy to feel like food security is something for governments or big organisations to figure out. But each of us can play a part in keeping food affordable and dependable. It often starts with small, simple steps close to home. Here are a few ideas you can try. 

• Shop local when you can. Popping to the market or choosing a local cheese or apple might not seem like much, but it supports nearby farmers and keeps your food chain a little shorter and stronger. Even swapping one supermarket item a week for something local can help.
• Get creative with your leftovers. Who says lunch has to be fancy? A stir-fry made with yesterday’s roasted vegetables, or a soup from leftover veggies in the fridge, can be delicious. Reducing food waste saves money and helps the planet too.
• Try a few more plants on your plate. Meat and dairy need more land and water than plant proteins like chickpeas. You don’t have to go completely vegan to make a difference. A lentil stew here, a chickpea salad there, it’s a tasty way to mix things up and lighten your footprint. You could start with one or two plant-based meals a week and see what you enjoy. Do you want to know more about plant-based diets? Read more here.
• Grow something, anything! A tomato plant on the balcony, herbs on the windowsill, or helping in a shared garden, it all counts. Growing even a tiny bit of food gives you a new appreciation for how much care it takes to eat well.
• Make space for wildness. Got a little patch of grass by the path or pavement? Imagine it buzzing with bees and full of colour. Planting wildflowers (even in a pot) helps pollinators, which helps our food grow.
• Keep the cupboards well stocked. Think of it like your pantry offering a little peace of mind. Keeping a few extra tins or bags of flour on hand helps you stay prepared for everyday surprises—and it means you’ll have something to share if a neighbour ever needs a hand.
• Do your bit for the climate. No one can fix climate change alone, but little habits add up. Taking one less flight a year, buying second-hand clothes from the thrift shop or reducing how much meat we eat: it’s all part of the puzzle.¹³ And every effort helps steady the climate that our food depends on.
• Look out for others. Maybe you could drop off a bag of groceries at a local food bank, help peel potatoes at a community kitchen, or share food that you’ve grown with friends. Food security isn’t just about ourselves; it’s about our whole community. You might be surprised by how many initiatives are happening close to home

There’s no one “right” way to help. Just start with what feels doable and joyful for you and see how it goes. 

Building a better world with food

Food systems are pretty amazing when you stop and think about it. As a planet, we’ve managed to feed more than 8 billion people, a number that once had scientists worried we’d face mass starvation. Through clever inventions and the backbreaking work of farmers, we’ve increased crop yields, improved storage and transport, and created ways to grow more food using less land. 

These achievements have helped us feed more people than ever before without completely wiping out the natural world in the process. But while that’s something to celebrate, we also need to recognise where the cracks are starting to show and why making our food system more sustainable and resilient is so important. Together, we can help create a future where everyone has access to good, nutritious food.