World Food Day
Next: October 16, 2027
Let there be bread, for everyone.
The story
Where it comes from
World Food Day falls on 16 October, the birthday of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). On that day in 1945, 34 governments signed FAO's constitution at the Château Frontenac in Quebec City, Canada, eight days before the United Nations itself formally came into being. World Food Day was established in 1979 and first observed in 1981. FAO's motto, chosen by its first Director-General, John Boyd Orr, is Fiat panis, 'let there be bread'.
How it's celebrated
Events are held in more than 150 countries and in up to 50 languages, which makes it one of the most celebrated days in the UN calendar. Governments, cities, businesses, schools and young people take part in campaigns against hunger. FAO's suggestions for everyone are simple: eat a varied, nutritious diet and waste less food. A shared meal is a fine way to mark it.
Did you know
- The world already produces enough food to feed everyone, yet around 645 million people faced hunger in 2025, according to FAO.
- China's rice-fish farming in Qingtian County, Zhejiang, where fish fertilise the paddies and eat pests and weeds, was among the first systems FAO named a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System, in 2005.
- FAO's first headquarters was in Washington, D.C.; it moved to Rome in 1951.
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