ABSTRACT
Food has been recognized as an important cultural element and a power. The multiple meanings of food are phenomenological features that render every food item a sort of social agent. The economic typology of goods developed by economists during the second half of the 20th century pivots around two features of goods, rivalry and excludability. As food systems are complex and combine a plurality of sub-systems, there is an urgent need to combine multiple and partial solutions into a viable transition with shared values and multiple but convergent praxis. Food is one of the three essential resources humans require to keep their vital functions, along with water and air. The food commons are thus comprised of four elements: natural and non-material resources; the communities who share the resources; the commoning practices people use to produce, transform and eat food; and the moral narrative that sustains the main purpose of the food system.
