This book offers an in-depth legal analysis of the right to food from both international and Cuban perspectives. It explores the historical, legal and theoretical evolution of the right to food, examining its normative foundations, legal content, guiding principles, state obligations and institutional guarantees within international human rights law and contemporary constitutional frameworks. The book introduces a novel four-fold interpretation of the right to food, integrating the right to be free from hunger, the right to food security, the right to food sovereignty and the right to healthy and adequate food into a coherent legal framework. Building upon this approach, it develops a comprehensive legal architecture of the right to food by proposing a new configuration of its guiding principles, differentiated state obligations and institutional guarantees. In doing so, it contributes to contemporary debates on the legal nature, interpretation, and implementation of the right to food, while addressing its relationship with sustainability, agricultural governance, and human rights. Particular attention is devoted to the Cuban legal system, providing a comprehensive examination of the constitutional recognition of the right to food, recent legislative reforms and the institutional mechanisms developed to implement food sovereignty and nutrition security. At the same time, the analysis situates the Cuban experience within broader international legal developments, offering comparative insights relevant to both developed and developing countries. Combining doctrinal legal research, historical analysis, and comparative perspectives, this book advances an original theoretical framework for understanding and implementing the right to food while providing practical insights for academics, legislators, policymakers, legal practitioners, and international organisations interested in food law, human rights, and sustainable food systems.

Jorge Freddy Milian Gómez is Senior Researcher and Lecturer at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium, and Co-Director of the International Joint Research Group in Agrifood Law and Food Systems (IJRG-ALFS). He is a legal scholar whose academic and professional trajectory focuses on Agrarian Law, Food Law, the Human Right to Food, and sustainability governance. He holds a PhD in Law from Vrije Universiteit Brussel and a PhD in Legal Sciences from Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas, Cuba. His research is rooted in agrarian and food-law frameworks and explores their intersections with sustainability, food systems, food security, resilience, governance, and international law. Dr Milian Gómez is currently the Coordinator and Principal Investigator of the European research project “Transforming European Food Systems: Sustainability, Equity, Governance and Resilience as Core Elements – TrueFoodS”, funded under the FutureFoodS Partnership. His academic contributions include publications on the constitutionalisation and legal implementation of the Human Right to Food, emerging approaches to food systems, sustainable contract farming, food security and food sovereignty, and the legal dimensions of agroecological resilience. He has delivered lectures on the principles of Agrarian Law, Food Law, food systems, and the Human Right to Food across Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Dr Milian Gómez is a member of the World Union of Agricultural and Food Law and serves as Secretary of the Belgian Branch of the International Law Association. Also serves as Co-Director of the E+ Jean Monnet Module “European Union Law and Policies through SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) 2 and 7” implemented at UCLV since 2024.