As a concept, conviviality has evolved over the last few decades, from a mainstream definition to one that embraces radical alternatives to economic development and its fundamental links to capitalist ideology. This article follows the concept’s progression from the dinner table to multicultural cities to the fields of design, the arts and post-humanist thought, with a particular focus on food. Drawing on the thinking of Ivan Illich and the notion of worlding, it proposes conviviality as a possible pathway to pursue genuine food sustainability.