Food governance and immigration: the Humanitarian Table Program and the new contours of the right to food in Brazil

Abstract

This article analyzes Bill No. 135/2025, known as the Programa Mesa Humanitária (“Humanitarian Table Program”), proposed in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, as a case study to reflect on the contemporary challenges of food governance and food and nutrition security (FNS) policies in Brazil. Drawing on the conception of governance as a polycentric and participatory process (Ostrom, 2012; Brandão et al., 2016), the paper examines the extent to which the program represents a reconfiguration of public action in response to hunger and social vulnerability. The analysis shows that the Mesa Humanitária introduces significant advances by recognizing refugees and immigrants as holders of the right to food and by proposing intersectoral and cooperative arrangements for its implementation. However, it also reveals the persistence of an assistentialist model, characterized by centralized decision-making and the absence of effective mechanisms for social participation. By situating the case within the framework of FNS and the ethics of food as a common good, the study argues that the central challenge of Brazilian food policy lies in transforming emergency assistance into reflexive governance, capable of combining inclusion, cultural diversity, and food citizenship.