Editors' foreword.

Chronic and widespread food insecurity remains a critical issue in the twenty-first century, as it has throughout human civilization. With approximately one in eight people worldwide undernourished, meeting global food demand is a fundamental challenge faced by governments, aid organizations, communities, and individuals. Global population is growing, but arable land is not increasing. Agricultural productivity has improved, but sufficient and equitable food dissemination methods have not kept pace. Warmer temperatures, rising fuel costs, harmful trade practices, and social unrest have all conspired to push the price of food higher, and push more people into food-insecure situations. In the developing world, systematic and environmental pressures limit the availability, access, and use of food and increase the potential for cyclical food crises that often lead to mortality and morbidity, economic losses, stunted growth in children, mass migration, and conflict. In developed nations, powerful food lobbies and regulatory hurdles render policymakers powerless against the aggressive marketing and availability of unhealthy food that contributes to the primary food security-related problems of industrialized countries: undernutrition and obesity. Enough food is produced to feed every person on Earth, but millions go to sleep hungry every night, while millions more die from obesity-related diseases. Clearly, the current food system is broken.

The editors are students of international affairs: of economics, energy, and policy; of development, human rights, and security. We understand the cross-disciplinary nature of this topic, and that to find solutions, academics, practitioners, scientists, and activists must cooperate across their disciplines and methodologies. To that end, the content of this journal comes from a wide range of contributors, and seeks to present a holistic picture of food security while offering policy recommendations--be it a regulatory overhaul of financial systems, a reexamination of food choice, suggested new development considerations, or the application of new technologies--that transcend the current dialogue.

We begin this issue with two articles discussing economics and food choice. In the first, Jennifer Clapp, a professor of environment and resource studies at Waterloo University in Canada, examines some of the global economic forces since 2008 that have contributed to food insecurity. She suggests that policies...