When Food Systems Meet Sustainability – Current Narratives and Implications for Action

This paper explores different narratives around food system sustainability, examining how various disciplines—agriculture, nutrition, and ecology—interpret the food system crisis. It identifies contradictions and gaps in existing sustainability frameworks, arguing that a narrow understanding of sustainability may lead to misleading policy choices. The study stresses the importance of recognizing trade-offs between economic, environmental, and social sustainability dimensions. The authors propose a framework that includes key elements necessary for sustainable food system transformation, such as outcome-based approaches, core activities, and explicit trade-off management strategies. The paper challenges the prevailing notion that healthy diets and sustainability are always aligned, urging policymakers to consider the complexities of food system trade-offs.