What is Food Security?

Mike Hamm and Anne Bellows define community food security as a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice.

Is Indianapolis a food-secure city?
In short, no. According to SustainLane, of the 50 largest cities ranked in their June 2006 survey, Indianapolis ranked 45th in its ability to weather an oil crisis ("Sustainlane 2006 U.S. City Rankings"). When examining Indianapolis’ situation by category ranking, Local Food and Agriculture, the city does move up in the rankings slightly to 31.

SustainLane looks at a city’s access to local food sources such as farmers’ markets, and to a lesser degree, the number of community gardens. Philadelphia, with roughly twice the population of Indianapolis, ranks third in the Local Food and Agriculture category (eighth overall), and “boasts 18 farmers' markets and more than 400 community gardens” (Gerencher). For Indianapolis to compare statistically with Philadelphia, the city would need more than 200 community gardens—currently the city has around sixty, not all of which produce food. Access to local food via farmers’ markets is growing, however.