ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with a description of how individuals interact with the food system primarily through the expenditure of currency at retail food locations. It then explains that while changes in spending habits can and do change the food system, they don’t tend to move it toward justice and resilience, and how public policy has always played a mediating role in solving this problem. The chapter then connects public policy to civic participation and explains why civic engagement is critical to the development of both equitable public policy and democracy. Food Policy Councils (FPCs) are then introduced as vehicles for people to work to change the food system in ways that extend beyond personal expenditure decisions and help ensure an equitable food system. With this background, the case is made that FPCs are an important tool to encourage political civic engagement in the food system – and that the food system is an ideal system for increasing political civic engagement because it is universally important, personal, and relatable. The section then shares two major food systems problems that FPCs have helped address in their communities: the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. Finally, FPCs are discussed as an antidote to the erosion in civic engagement and a manifestation of a successfully functioning democracy.
