To demonstrate this, FNB serves surplus food gathered from grocery stores, bakeries and markets which would otherwise go to waste, or occasionally has already been thrown away.

Food Not Bombs is an all-volunteer global movement sharing free, usually[1][2] vegan meals as a protest against war and poverty.

[4] However, the Gainesville, Florida, US chapter, for example, serves meals that include animal products such as chicken, pork chops, brisket, steak and shrimp.

According to Keith McHenry, the name came about when he discovered that they were distributing food to the poor just across the street from a new building development for Draper Labs where, rumor had it, they were designing nuclear weapons.

'"[10] Co-founder, Keith McHenry has volunteered for 35 years and can be found sharing food almost every week in various cities including Santa Cruz, California, and Taos, New Mexico.

They protested such things as nuclear power, United States' involvement in the Salvadoran Civil War, and discrimination against the homeless.

[11] The first arrests for sharing free food (aka 'sharing') occurred on August 15, 1988 at the entrance to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California.

Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the decision, barring Orlando from enforcing the ordinance until another hearing before a 10-judge panel could take place.

In August 2009, the chapter began operating through a licensed kitchen provided by the Middletown First Church of Christ Congregational as state hearings into the matter were held.

On July 1, after national and international attention and further hacks, OFNB accepted the Mayor's suggestion to move sharings to City Hall, which stopped arrests and resulted in a new, stable arrangement for Orlando's FNB.

Soon after his arraignment he held a press statement where he admitted to all charges, but argued that the distributed denial of service attacks constituted acts of cyber-civil disobedience.

[38] Food Not Bombs groups were heavily involved in supporting occupation camps across the US during the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement.

[43] A Food Not Bombs World Gathering took place August 20–26, 2012, in Tampa, Florida – the week before the Republican National Convention.

As volunteers continued to receive citations, in January 2024 the group joined Texas Civil Rights Project and sued the City of Houston.

[54] The tickets were issued under a city ordinance enacted in 2012, which states that those wanting to distribute free meals to more than five people must first obtain operating permission from the property owner(s).

[54] Mayor John Whitmire's office stated, "members of his administration look forward to meeting and working with interested parties regarding the Charitable Food Ordinance.

The organization works with Earth First!, The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, Anarchist Black Cross, the IWW, Homes Not Jails, Anti Racist Action, Farm Animal Rights Movement, In Defense of Animals, the Free Radio Movement, and other organizations.