An appetite for the system? A critical evaluation of the Dimbleby report

This article offers a critical evaluation of the National Food Strategy for England—informally known as the Dimbleby Report—published in July 2021. The report offers a sophisticated analysis of the key problems of the food system in the UK, particularly in relation to dietary ill-health and environmental degradation. But I argue that it relies on contentious assumptions about the nature of the ‘food system’ and of the character of individual and collective food agency that limit the scope of the policy solutions it proposes. Specifically, it sets aside any serious consideration of the empowerment of citizens through the democratic reform of the food system as a means of redressing its harmful effects on health and the environment.