Food Security at Risk. A Matter of Dignity and Self-respect.

In this paper I shall attempt to provide an account of food security and food adequacy in light of the role played by food in the development of individual identity and in the cultivation of the dignity and self-respect that stem from implementing autonomously chosen paths of life. After stressing some of the normative implications of food security, I outline a philosophical background for the notions of dignity and self-respect. Finally, I suggest that pluralistic societies inspired by liberal principles offer an eminently suitable standpoint from which to view the cultural as well as nutritional threats to global food security.