The year 2020 was unprecedented in many ways. For rich and poor countries alike, the coronavirus pandemic and the associated policy responses brought a widespread health calamity, economic hardship, severe disruptions to services, and previously unimaginable restrictions on movement. Many poor and vulnerable people have faced serious threats to their immediate food security, health, and nutrition. For the many countries that cannot access or administer vaccines quickly, the pandemic will be prolonged, with worrisome consequences for people’s long-term prospects as a result of lost livelihoods, malnutrition, missed education, and depleted assets. The crisis has also highlighted and often accentuated the weaknesses and inequalities already present in our food systems, health systems, and economic systems that leave the poor and vulnerable at risk. A year into the pandemic, loss of incomes, increased food insecurity, and reduced access to healthy diets make it clear that food systems must play a central role in putting us on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Food systems need to be transformed to meet those goals, to better prepare us for the next shock, and to benefit the world’s poor and vulnerable people and the planet.