Falling Fruit is a mapping project that documents the overlooked culinary bounty of our city streets. By quantifying this resource on an interactive map, they are hoping to connect people, food, and the natural organisms growing in our neighborhoods.
Their edible map is not the first of its kind, but it aspires to be the world’s most comprehensive. While our users contribute locations of their own, they comb the internet for pre-existing knowledge, seeking to unite the efforts of foragers, foresters, and freegans everywhere. The imported datasets range from small neighborhood foraging maps to vast professionally-compiled tree inventories. This so far amounts to 3,193 different types of edibles (most, but not all, plant species) distributed over 1,496,201 locations. Beyond the cultivated and commonplace to the exotic flavors of foreign plants and long-forgotten native plants, foraging in your neighborhood is a journey through time and across cultures.
The map is open for anyone to edit, the database can be downloaded with just one click, and the code is open-source. You are likewise encouraged to share the bounty with your fellow humans. Our sharing page lists hundreds of local organizations – planting public orchards and food forests, picking otherwise-wasted fruits and vegetables from city trees and farmers’ fields, and sharing with neighbors and the needy.
To explore the map and find out what you could eat on your block, see:
As Seen In Harlem
