ABSTRACT Food insecurity is a pressing issue not only in low-income countries and rural areas, but also in affluent societies and major cities all around the world. Inequality related to access to food has, thus, become one of the main challenges to the social inclusion model based on social citizenship that is a characteristic feature of European societies. Starting from the multidimensional nature of food security, access to food is considered a necessary entitlement to make social citizenship effective, but this is not guaranteed in European societies. This contribution sets out to analyse the social inclusion/exclusion processes related to the status of food deprivation. This outcome is assessed in terms of social citizenship initiatives’ ability to stimulate a demand for institutional change, in a more inclusive direction. This aim is achieved through a comparative analysis of three different case studies of social citizenship initiatives, in three major cities of Southern Europe: Rome, Barcelona and Athens. Since food is not only a means of survival, but also holds multiple emotional, cultural and social meanings, this article shows – under what conditions – people, participating in social citizenship initiatives, can get social recognition and autonomy which can lead to reconnecting food and effective citizenship.