Most of what you find on this site is available for download, and we offer guides and tutorials on how to navigate the programming and software that make these maps possible. Data are collected from government databases, partnerships with organizations, and through primary data collection and compilation.
We welcome you to explore the site and use the available data for projects, in your classrooms, or simply to fuel your curiosity! Please reach out to foodways@iu.edu with any questions.
Other Campus Resources for Exploring Indiana's Foodways
Sustainable Food Systems Science (SFSS) at Indiana University studies the social dimensions of food sustainability including culture, equity and justice in food provisioning from local to global. In Indiana, and in research sites around the world, they examine the production, coordination, and consumption of food value chains and the supporting networks and decision-making from individual to organizational levels. Their engaged research and advocacy for innovative solutions center on the promotion of human thriving.
Many community and campus mapping projects are partnered with the SFSS group. Students and researchers often share information and ideas in order to present accurate data.
The mission of the IU Food Institute is to promote innovative research, education, and public outreach on multidisciplinary approaches to food and foodways. The institute serves as a hub for all food-related studies and activities on campus.
The Critical Food Studies Lab is a joint initiative of the IU Food Institute and the IU Department of Geography. They use data, mathematical modeling, and visualization techniques to examine food security, food sovereignty and food justice issues in the United States and, to a lesser degree, throughout the world. They regularly work with those engaged in decision-making and ethnographic approaches in an effort to provide a well- rounded approach to the major hunger crises that face America and the world.
Students create projects for the many classes offered in both the Anthropology and Geography departments at IU. This foodways website is a place for them to showcase those projects to a larger audience.
Many Foodways collaborators are a part of the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA). Everything from ecology, soil sciences, and environmental law can be used to further each project on Foodways.
University Information Technology Services (UITS) provides the platform on which to create this website and share the many ideas and projects that are produced on campus. They are an integral technological service to all online mapping projects on campus.
IU Libraries, specifically the map library, helps with GIS issues and aids in the construction of map-based pages on this site and others.
The Indiana Geological and Water Survey (IGWS) spends its time collecting Indiana focused ecological data, which the Foodways project can then use to populate maps, inform projects, and further our understanding of the state's inner workings.