The food systems we inherit in the 21st century represent some of the greatest achievements of human civilization. Paradoxically, they also represent some of the greatest threats to our continued health and prosperity. Contrasted with millennia of subsistence diets for most of the population, today’s food systems are a radical success in abundance in many parts of the world. Over the 19th and 20th centuries, major breakthroughs in crop productivity, food processing and distributive capacities drove huge increases in net calorie availability for consumers, bringing more varied diets into reach for those able to access and afford them. Modern food systems also boast impressive achievements in food safety. At the beginning of the 20th century, food poisoning and water contamination were major causes of mortality, even in relatively wealthy regions like Western Europe (Satin, 2007). Improved hygiene, technologies and medicine have all but eradicated these pathologies in the most affluent countries, with middle-income and low-income countries now making major advances.