Food Policy Councils Step into the Doughnut

In June 2025, the Food Policy Councils in Action workshop in Rome brought together more than 90 people who work on food in their cities. It was hosted by the American University of Rome and the Rome Food Policy Council, and DEAL was there to bring Doughnut Economics into the room.

What stood out was the moment participants began to look at their own work through a different lens. A topic they handle every day, like food waste or school meals, started to look less like a single policy issue and more like a web of connections between people and planet. The conversation shifted from “what do we manage?” to “what are we really here to care for?”

That afternoon became the first step of a co-creation journey. Built with the Food Policy Councils in Action! network and DEAL’s network of cities and practitioners working on food and Doughnut Economics, it has grown into a shared process of more than 60 policymakers, academics and food experts.
Read the story: Co-creating a Food Doughnut

The Doughnut doesn’t give answers. It gives people a shared way of asking better questions, and food policy councils are the right place to ask them, because they sit where communities, governments and food systems meet.

Here is a short video from the day
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej-7fue1pXw

Thanks to the American University of Rome, the Rome Food Policy Council, the University of Luxembourg, the University of Florence, CURSA and the Municipality of Rome for making it possible.