Prioritising cultural food security and food sovereignty over conventional food security: A multi-dimensional analytical argument

Abstract

The aim of this review is to examine why cultural food security and cultural food sovereignty should be prioritised and embedded within conventional food security frameworks. It demonstrates how culturally grounded, community-driven approaches foster more just, sustainable, and empowering food systems for ethnically diverse, Indigenous, and local communities, while highlighting the limitations of conventional metrics that overlook socio-cultural, political, and ecological dimensions essential to resilience. Conventional food security focuses on access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food, often sidelining access to culturally appropriate and spiritually meaningful foods that are integral to cultural identity and tradition (cultural food security) and the authority and decision-making power held by local people over their foodways (cultural food sovereignty). Its market-based, individualistic measurement paradigms further neglect collectivist, traditional, and spiritual food values, resulting in assessments that may conform to global standards yet produce flawed outcomes, misaligned interventions, and continued marginalisation of ethnically diverse, Indigenous and local communities. Drawing on socio-cultural, political, economic, and environmental frameworks, the review demonstrates how food sovereignty and cultural food security provide more sustainable, equitable, and empowering pathways for communities. It underscores the need for community-driven, culturally grounded food policies.