While the Nordic Region has strong foundations of resilience, the COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on some of the vulnerabilities in Nordic food systems. A crisis can provide new opportunities to recognise what is not working in our food system and provide the context needed to build new systems, collaborations, and resilience. This think piece is intended to stimulate a discussion around the vulnerabilities of the Nordic food system and to highlight the importance of developing a systems-based resilience strategy to ensure that the Nordic Region can bounce forward after future shocks. It uses the context of the COVID-19 pandemic as an example in order to focus the analysis and ends with reflections on what is needed going forward to fully assess the state of Nordic food systems.