The Food Sharing Map is a new online tool that makes the world of food sharing visible at a glance. By bringing together over 8000 food-sharing initiatives from more than 200 urban areas in a single database with real-time updates, it transforms a scattered and often invisible landscape into an accessible resource. Users can explore who is sharing food, what is being shared, and how food is exchanged within communities.
A short video about the Food Sharing Map is available here.
The tool, accessible at www.sharingsolutions.eu/food-sharing-map/, is designed for anyone interested in food sharing, from citizens looking to connect with initiatives to food-sharing organisations, policymakers, food system actors and researchers seeking to understand the food-sharing ecosystem in their area and beyond. Users can browse the map freely or filter it using drop-down menus, then scroll below to find detailed information about activities that match their search.
Developed within the EU-funded CULTIVATE project, the Food Sharing Map is one of five tools in the Food Sharing Compass, an online platform that helps users scale and strengthen food sharing, fostering sustainable and inclusive urban and peri-urban food systems. The map has been shaped by researchers at Trinity College Dublin, in collaboration with CULTIVATE partners and a wide network of food sharing initiatives, municipalities and researchers, ensuring its relevance to real-world contexts.
The map captures two complementary dimensions of food sharing: the type of activity, such as growing food, cooking and eating, and distributing food, and the way it is shared, whether by collecting, bartering, selling or gifting. Together, these dimensions reveal the full diversity of food sharing practices, from community gardens and shared meals to surplus redistribution, food rescue and gift-based exchange.
By mapping both what is shared and how, across hundreds of cities, the Food Sharing Map offers a comprehensive picture of food sharing practices, helping users discover initiatives, identify gaps and opportunities, and connect a community that often operates beneath the surface.
Start exploring the tool at Food Sharing Map – Sharing Solutions and contact the team at info@sharingsolutions.it to know more!
Photo credits: Leonardo Improta
