As an important source of non-cropland food, forest-based foods are playing an increasingly significant role in safeguarding national food security, optimizing dietary and nutritional structures, and advancing the Healthy China strategy. Based on a systematic review of the current spatial utilization of forest food production in China, this study finds that forest-based food production exhibits a spatial pattern of "robust development in the south, expansion the north, superior quality in the east, and specialization in the west," and that this pattern demonstrates a multi-level regional division of labor. Overall,the sector is transitioning from spatial expansion toward functional coordination. However, several challenges remain in the spatial coordination of forest-based food production, including inadequate systemic coordination, unbalanced regional development, unclear layout planning, and intensifying ecological constraints. In light of major national strategies such as the holistic food approach and key ecological initiatives like the Three-North shelterbelt forest program, and drawing upon the resource endowment, regional comparative advantage, and ecological carrying capacity theories, this study proposes a "Seven Zones‒Three Belts‒Three Domains" layout, along with its rationale and specific zoning plans, for the coordinated utilization of forest food production space in China. It is suggested to strengthen top-level planning to optimize the forest food production space, implement projects for quality improvement and efficiency enhancement of industrial chains to elevate high-value utilization, and reinforce ecological risk control to bolster the industry's risk resistance capacity. These measures aim to optimize the spatial layout for forest food production, improve forest food supply capacity, and better support national food security and ecological security strategies.