This article discusses the interaction between the development of the doctrine on human rights, in general, and on the right to food, in particular. In 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which listed the rights that were considered to be human rights. Access to food is an element of the right to an adequate standard of living. The Council of Europe established the European Convention on Human Rights (1950) and the European Social Charter (1961). Neither of these documents mentions a right to food. In 1966, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights were concluded. The latter recognises the right to adequate food as an element of the right to an adequate standard of living. The right to adequate food was the subject of endeavours at the UN level to push development of doctrine so that economic, social and cultural rights empower people just as much as civil and political rights. The Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Asbjørn Eide, coined a new paradigm, which distinguishes different human rights obligations for states.