Dr Florian Kroll's 2024 research study, completed as part of the PhD he obtained from the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in 2025, challenges us to see food not as neutral nourishment, but as a mirror of society’s inequalities and possibilities for change.
Image: Supplied
When Dr Florian Kroll speaks about food, he does not simply describe what is on our plates. He reveals the politics, power and history behind every bite, reminding us that every meal connects us to broader struggles for fairness, sustainability and dignity.
His 2024 research study, completed as part of the PhD he obtained from the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in 2025, challenges us to see food not as neutral nourishment, but as a mirror of society’s inequalities and possibilities for change.
Dr Kroll, who works at the DSTI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security and the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), describes what he calls a visible collision in South Africa, 'where millions remain food insecure despite the country’s middle-income status'. Rising prices — driven by inflation, cartel-like price gouging and global supply shocks — have left households struggling.
At the same time, corporate supermarkets dominate distribution, sidelining small-scale farmers and traditional practices, while recording profits even as hunger deepens. For Dr Kroll, this is proof that food insecurity is less about scarcity than about exclusion.
Yet his vision is not without hope. He insists that transformation will not come from technocratic fixes imposed from above, but from collective action in which communities assert their right to shape the systems that feed them. In Amadiba in the Eastern Cape, he notes, traditional farming methods have long protected biodiversity and sustained local diets.
His research also turns to metropolitan governments, where officials are grappling with the complex challenge of food systems governance. He traces how cities are beginning to break down silos that once kept departments isolated, experimenting with policies and networks that encourage collaboration. One example is the recent food imbizo, a DSTI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security initiative — a multi-stakeholder forum where diverse voices share knowledge, build connections and shape more democratic approaches to food governance.
Another key strand of his research focuses on the transition toward sustainable food systems rooted in agroecology. Dr Kroll points out that metropolitan governments already hold a wide array of policy instruments that, if re-aligned, could nurture fairer, more diverse, resilient and nourishing food systems. Urban design and management, he argues, are central to this shift, particularly when they recognise and support the crucial roles of informal traders and spaza shops in local food economies.
The legacy of apartheid continues to shape access to land, resources and opportunity. For Dr Kroll, food justice movements are about more than hunger; they are about reclaiming rights, voices and futures. Activism, including campaigns for healthy meals, highlights how food is tied to educational success, equality and dignity.
Everyday choices, he suggests, also matter. Supporting local farmers, joining community food projects, or recognising the politics behind food, are ways of participating in transformation. As Dr Kroll argues, food must be understood as a public good rather than a commodity. For students in particular, this means recognising that the struggle for food justice is also a struggle for a more democratic future.