This open access booktakes the upheaval of the global COVID-19 pandemic as a springboard from which to interrogate alarger set of structural, environmental and political fault lines running through the global food system. In acontext in which disruptions to the production, distribution, and consumption of food are figured as exceptions to the smooth, just-in-timeefficiencies of global supply chains, these essays reveal the global food system as one that is inherentlydisruptive of human lives and flourishing, and of relationships betweenpeople, places, and environments. The pandemic thus represents a particular, acute moment ofdisruption, offering a lens on a deeper, longer set of systemic processes, and shining new light ontransformational possibilities.