[Food and sustainability from a multidimensional perspective: perceptions and practices of rural youth]

The reconfiguration of food systems with an emphasis on multidimensional sustainability is fundamental to ensuring adequate nutrition and the health of the planet, with rural youth serving as strategic agents for these changes. This study aimed to understand the perceptions, practices, and mobilization elements of rural youth regarding food and sustainability. It is a qualitative investigation that forms part of the project Food and Nutritional Education with Youth: Mobilization, Networks, and Institutional Cooperation, in which individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with rural youth and analyzed using Content Analysis. Four categories emerged from the data: (i) Food production and marketing: between subsistence and affective relationships; (ii) A healthy relationship with the land and all forms of life; (iii) Collectivity, justice, and solidarity; and (iv) Food and sustainability: mobilization proposals. The interviewees expressed concern about all stages of the food system, and their perceptions and practices were guided by sustainability in its environmental, economic, social, and cultural dimensions. The convergent, complementary, and significant reflections generated by this study inspired an essay to reframe the concept of sustainable food, which will undoubtedly contribute to the mobilization of other young people and further explorations of the topic.