In this study, we used site surveys and interviews with managers of 23 food forest projects in Flanders, Belgium, to gain insight in the biophysical and management characteristics of these systems.The data collection was performed in 2021.This dataset was used for the article "Characteristics of food forestry: a case study in Flanders, Belgium". The methodology used to obtain the data in this dataset can be found in that article."2021_Characteristics_FF_Flanders.csv" contains the majority of the data (general food forest characteristics, data from the interviews). "2021_Characteristics_FF_Flanders_variabledescription.csv" contains the description of the variable names used in "2021_Characteristics_FF_Flanders.csv". "2021_Characteristics_FF_Flanders_vegetationplot.csv" contains the species cover data for the 100 m² sample plots in the food forests. ...