Food is fuelling several of the major global challenges of our time. Current food systems fail one in two people worldwide and poor diets are now the leading risk factor for disease, globally. Food systems also represent a significant driver of environmental degradation. Yet because food cross-cuts the major health, environmental and sustainable development challenges of today, bending the curve of unhealthy, unsustainable food provides one of the greatest opportunities to achieve our Global Goals. Mounting research demonstrates the benefits of transforming our food systems, but a crucial next step is translating this research into action. This talk outlines some of the major linkages between food, people and the planet, and presents the coming EAT–Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems as well as the Lancet Series on the Double Burden of Malnutrition. The former will synthesise the best available science to define what constitutes a healthy diet globally and what sustainable food production looks like that preserves functional ecosystems, and the latter outlines the important opportunities for integrated action on malnutrition in all its forms.