Abstract: Guided by the “Holistic Food Perspective”, the forest food economy has gained prominence as an innovative pathway to strengthen national food security. China's conventional food security framework confronts multiple challenges, including limited arable land, regional production disparities, and volatility in global markets, which collectively erode the resilience of traditional food supply systems. Drawing on the motivation theory model, this study systematically examines the driving mechanisms and optimization strategies of the forest food economy across structural, elemental, and functional dimensions, integrating forestry and grassland statistics with multi-case validations. Our findings demonstrate that the forest food economy optimizes resource allocation through multi-layered understory development, enhances supply chain efficiency by integrating technological and market elements, and bolsters system resilience via ecological-economic synergies, thereby substantially expanding food supply boundaries and complementing traditional food systems by providing nutrient-rich forest products that diversify dietary structures. Nevertheless, the forest food economy currently faces constraints such as low supply efficiency, inadequate industrial integration, and weak risk mitigation, attributable to inefficient spatial configurations, lagging innovation in critical elements, and poor policy coordination. To address these bottlenecks, we propose a policy framework centered on spatial intensification and resource optimization, activation of key elements and industrial integration, and dynamic coordination for enhanced resilience. This framework aims to establish a diversified, intensive, and resilient forest food security system, offering theoretical and practical guidance for strategic decision-making in national food security under contemporary conditions.