Food Not Bombs (FNB) is a loose-knit group of independent
collectives, sharing free, usually
vegan and
vegetarian food with others. The group believes that
corporate and
government priorities are skewed to allow
hunger to persist in the midst of
abundance. To demonstrate this, FNB serves
surplus food gathered from grocery stores, bakeries and markets which would otherwise go to waste, or occasionally has already been thrown away. The group exhibits a form of
franchise activism.
Background and principles
Food Not Bombs is an all-
volunteer global movement sharing free, usually[1][2]vegan meals as a protest against
war and
poverty. Each chapter collects surplus food from grocery stores, bakeries, and that would otherwise go to waste and occasionally collects items from
garbage dumpsters when stores are uncooperative.[3] FNB also accepts donations from local
farmers, then prepares free community meals which are offered to anyone who is hungry. According to FNB, the group's central beliefs are:[4]
Meals are usually
vegan or
vegetarian. The
Gainesville, Florida,
USA chapter, for example, serves meals that include animal products such as chicken, pork chops, brisket, steak and shrimp.[1][2]
Meals are free to anyone.
Each chapter is independent and autonomous and makes decisions via
consensus.
To facilitate community gatherings of hungry people
To allow anyone to volunteer to help cook, and then eat.[7]
Activity
1980s
Food Not Bombs was founded in 1980 in
Cambridge, Massachusetts by
anti-nuclear activistsKeith McHenry,[8] Jo Swanson, Mira Brown, Susan Eaton, Brian Feigenbaum, C.T. Lawrence Butler,[9] Jessie Constable and Amy Rothstien. According to Keith McHenry, the name came about when he discovered that they were distributing food to the poor just across the street from a new building development for
Draper Labs where, rumor had it, they were designing nuclear weapons.[10] McHenry says that it made the group realize that "there are hungry people on one side of the street. There are people on the other that are making money making nuclear weapons. We should be called 'Food Not Bombs.'"[10] Co-founder, Keith McHenry has volunteered for 35 years and can be found sharing food almost every week in various cities including Santa Cruz, California and Taos, New Mexico. The members' activities included providing food, marching, and protesting. They protested such things as nuclear power, United States' involvement in the
Salvadoran Civil War, and discrimination against the homeless.[11]
The first arrests for sharing free food (aka 'sharing') occurred on August 15, 1988 at the entrance to
Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. Nine people were arrested that day, including McHenry. The city made over 1,000 arrests, and
Amnesty International declared these volunteers '
prisoners of conscience'.[12]
2000s
In the summer of 2007, the
Fort Lauderdale, FL FNB chapter began receiving systematic harassment from local law enforcement culminating in an ultimatum presented by the Fort Lauderdale police. The police demanded the arrest of volunteers responsible for the public 'sharings'. The following week, hundreds of supporters for FNB managed to compel local law enforcement to relent, which lasted until the 2010s.[13]
The city of
Orlando, FL enacted an ordinance prohibiting the serving of food to more than a specified numberhow many? of people without a permit.[14] In the fall of 2007, Eric Montanez of Orlando's FNB was charged with violating Orlando's city ordinance. On October 10, 2007, Montanez was acquitted by a jury of the charge.[15][16] FNB along with a church for the homeless (First Vagabonds Church of God) sued the city[14] on the grounds that their food service is covered under the first amendment as a part of protected political speech and religious activity. The groups won the lawsuit and the city ordinance was overturned. The city of Orlando appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and subsequently won.[14] On August 31, 2010, the
11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the decision, barring Orlando from enforcing the ordinance until another hearing before a 10-judge panel could take place.[14]
In May 2008, local business owners attempted to stop the
Kitchener, Ontario, FNB group from serving meals in a highly-visible downtown location,[17] describing the group as "supporting meat-free diets, anti-capitalism, and an end to Canada's military intervention in Afghanistan."[18]
In April 2009, the city of
Middletown, Connecticut, issued a
cease-and-desist order to the local chapter of FNB. Prior to the order, the city
health inspector cited the organization for distributing food without a license. In August 2009, the chapter began operating through a licensed kitchen provided by the Middletown First Church of Christ Congregational as state hearings into the matter were held.[19]
The most widely publicized restrictions on food sharing involving FNB were the 2011 feeding bans in
Florida. Similar laws have been enacted in other jurisdictions, including Philadelphia[20] and Houston.[21]
2010s
On April 20, 2011, an en banc panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Orlando ordinance as a valid "time, place and manner" regulation,[22] reversing the initial ruling of First Vagabonds Church of God, An Unincorporated Association, Brian Nichols v. City of Orlando, Florida and removing the permanent injunction against the Orlando ordinance that was first attempted in 2007.[23] The lawyer for Orlando FNB issued a cease and desist order to the city,[24] saying that violating the ordinance was not an arrestable offense, and hackers claiming to be affiliated with
Anonymous began issuing threats to the city of Orlando. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer received heavy criticism for referring to Food Not Bombs activists as "food terrorists."[25][26][27]
On June 20, Ben Markeson was cited for holding a sign without a permit, and hackers carried through with their threats and took down the Orlando Chamber of Commerce site and a Universal Studios website in "Operation Orlando".[28][29] On June 22, more arrests took place including a second arrest of McHenry. On July 1, after national and international attention and further hacks, OFNB accepted the Mayor's suggestion to move sharings to City Hall, which stopped arrests and resulted in a new, stable arrangement for Orlando's FNB.[30][31]
A Homeless
hacktivist named
Christopher Doyon, also known as "Commander X", was eventually arrested for "Operation Orlando" and other activity. Soon after his arraignment he held a press statement where he admitted to all charges, but argued that the
distributed denial of service attacks constituted acts of
cyber-civil disobedience.[32][33] On August 19, 2011, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer held a press conference to announce that charges against food sharers arrested in Lake Eola Park, Orlando, were dropped, resulting in a new state of compromise between Buddy Dyer's administration and Orlando Food Not Bombs.[34]
An ordinance in
Sarasota, Florida, in 2011 required a special event permit for gatherings of 75 or more people. Local
condominium residents petitioned to require permits for even smaller groups of 12, as well as a permit for vending in public. Numerous other ordinances targeted the homeless, including the banning of smoking and removing park benches.[35][36] At the time, homeless shelters in
Gainesville, Florida could feed only 130 people at a time, leading to the formation of the Coalition To End The Meal Limit,[37] who successfully lifted the meal limit and other rules in 2011.[38]
Food Not Bombs groups were heavily involved in supporting occupation camps across the US during the 2011
Occupy Wall Street movement.[39] A FNB kitchen was removed in a late-night police confrontation with
Occupy San Francisco in mid-October.[40]C.T. Lawrence Butler joined
Occupy Boston.[41] Keith McHenry participated in many camps[42] and released a new FNB handbook.[43]
A Food Not Bombs World Gathering took place August 20–26, 2012, in
Tampa, Florida - the week before the
Republican National Convention.[44] In conjunction with
Occupy Tampa and many other organizations, FNB activists collected and prepared food for hundreds of RNC protesters and offered workshops, cultural events, and protest activities from August 20–30.[45]
Near the end of 2012, FNB activists, in particular,
Long Island FNB, fed thousands of people in the wake of
Superstorm Sandy alongside "Occupy Sandy."[46] The outpouring of food going to waste and support for disaster-stricken, impoverished communities culminated in the "Largest Food Not Bombs Ever" at the "Hempstead Food Share Bonanza" on Nov. 18th.[47]
In November 2014, the city of
Fort Lauderdale enacted a sharing ban.[48] Several Food Not Bombs activists were arrested sharing food and other acts of
civil disobedience, for which they received "Civil Liberties Arrest" medals from the
Broward County ACLU.[49][50][51] Other FNB activists went on
hunger strike against enforcement of the law.[52] A court injunction stopped enforcement of the sharing ban in early December 2014 pending several court cases. On August 22, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that outdoor food sharing by Food Not Bombs was protected under the
First Amendment.[53]
2020s
A Food Not Bombs chapter in Houston had been issued nearly 90 tickets since March of 2023.[54]The tickets were issued under a city ordinance enacted in 2012, which states that those wanting to distribute free meals to more than 5 people must first obtain operating permission from the property owner(s).[55]In August, 8 of the tickets were dismissed after representees from the Houston Police Department fail to show up.[54]Mayor John Whitmire's office stated, "members of his administration look forward to meeting and working with interested parties regarding the Charitable Food Ordinance."[54]
Three Food Not Bombs volunteers were charged in West Palm Beach, Florida under a similar ordinance against sharing food with groups of people in September of 2023.[56]
^"Principles".
Archived from the original on October 31, 2011. Retrieved October 31, 2011.
^Heynen, Nik (May 12, 2010). "Cooking up Non-violent Civil-disobedient Direct Action for the Hungry: 'Food Not Bombs' and the Resurgence of Radical Democracy in the US". Urban Studies. 47 (6): 1225–1240.
Bibcode:
2010UrbSt..47.1225H.
doi:
10.1177/0042098009360223.
S2CID154317986.
Giles, David Boarder (2021). A Mass Conspiracy to Feed People: Food Not Bombs and the World-Class Waste of Global Cities. Durham: Duke University Press Books.
ISBN978-1-4780-1441-6.
Parson, Sean (2018). Cooking up a revolution: Food Not Bombs, Homes Not Jails, and resistance to gentrification. Manchester University Press.
ISBN978-1-5261-0811-1.
Parson, Sean (2019). "The Politics of Dumpstered Soup: Food Not Bombs and the Limits of Decommodifying Food". In Kinna, Ruth; Gordon, Uri (eds.). Routledge Handbook of Radical Politics. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 405–416.
ISBN978-1-138-66542-2.