foodare

Foodare is an open-source, community-driven platform that aggregates information about local food resources to improve access to affordable, nutritious foods. The project focuses on data transparency, interoperability, and user-contributed updates, offering a web interface and a mobile app to help residents, planners, and service providers identify grocery stores, farmers markets, food banks, and meal programs.

Foodare emerged from a 2022 collaborative hackathon among technologists, public health advocates, and community organizers. It was formalized as a non-profit initiative in early 2023, with support from philanthropy and municipal partners. By 2024, the platform included data from dozens of cities across several countries and released an API for researchers and developers.

The platform features map-based search, price tracking for staple items, nutritional information, meal program schedules, and user reviews, along with crowd-sourced corrections and an API for third-party applications.

Data are contributed under open licenses with privacy protections, governance, and moderation to ensure data quality and prevent misuse.

Foodare has been used by community organizations, researchers, and local governments to identify gaps in access, inform aid distribution, and support policy planning. Critics note potential data accuracy issues and challenges in reaching populations with limited internet access.

See also: food security, food deserts, open data, civic technology.