For over five centuries, wage-earners have used food activism to improve their sustenance. This form of mass mobilisation may be perceived as an attempt to reassert previously established entitlement known to be breached, mainly dearth or inflation in food prices. From the 18th century to contemporary times, the poor and working class have used this strategy to call for (re)regulation of food systems, just allocation of resources and policies responsive to their socio-economic needs. But what factors enable such collective action? Put starkly, what theoretical or structural elements incite the lowest rank of citizens to galvanise in the face of dearth or price inflation? While some observers attempt to shedlight on this question, there remains insufficient in-depth assessment of the socio-economic and political factors which underpin such mobilisation. To fill this void, the chapter draws on historical scholarship and emerging perspectives on rural–urban food activism in order to inform on-going debates on policy reform. It concludes by arguing that poverty alone does not incite the poor to mobilise, but rather consciousness of a breach of entitlement caused by exploitation, neoliberalism and racketeering.