In this paper, we analyzed the size of the ecological footprint of food consumed in Beijing. Population data and information on resident food consumption were collected from the "Beijing Statistical Yearbook" and "Chinese Migrants Development Report" from 2008 to 2012. An additional market investigation was carried out.The food-related ecological footprint distance increased 19.3% (to 676.75 km), from 2008 to 2012, reflecting a trend of expanding scope of dependency for ecological goods used in Beijing. The ecological footprint distance per capita enlarged nearly 54% (to 184.2 km), implying a trend of rapid increase in the cost of living in Beijing. There was an overall increasing trend in the total size of the total mileage of ecological footprint of Beijing, the ecological footprint distance and the ecological footprint distance per capita. The total mileage of the ecological footprint increased more than 200% (to 5.6 thousand million t km). The growth rate of total mileage of the ecological footprint was faster than the growth rate of the population. This might show loss of the benefits of scale of the expanding city, and the declining efficiency in configuration of ecological resources.Although the scope of Beijing's ecological footprint covered most regions of China, from the aspect of their market share, it was still too concentrated for Beijing to maintain a stable ecosystem in the metropolitan area.According to the results of seasonal analysis of five consecutive years, it could be inferred that the Ecological Footprint Distance of vegetables and fruit varied obviously among different seasons, usually higher in winter and spring. Yet the ecological footprint distance across seasons was relatively steady for grain and oils, meat and eggs and aquatic products. While taking into account the stability of the path of ecosystem material flows, the material flows of vegetables and fruit are more fragile than of other kinds.The largest group according to Beijing's ecological footprint distance was fruit, the second was vegetables or grain and edible oil (in different years), the third was meat and eggs, and the smallest group was aquatic products. The biggest contributors to Beijing's ecological footprint distance were vegetable and fruit. The development of a base of supply for vegetables and fruit in surrounding areas would effectively decrease Beijing's ecological footprint distance. The average ecological footprint distance of vegetables increased from 475.23 km to 727.13 km from 2008 to 2012, with an obviously ascending trend. The average ecological footprint distance of fruit increased from 905.55 km to 1073.55 km from 2008 to 2010, and then decreased to 886.66 km in 2012. The average ecological footprint distance of fruit was much larger than for the other four kinds of food resources. The ecological footprint distance of each kind of food resource had a close relationship with their spatial distance and market share of their source-regions: the longer the spatial distance, and the larger the market share, the higher the value of the ecological footprint distance.The ecological footprint distance was established based on the concept of ecological footprint, but reflects a different aspect of human impacts on natural ecosystems. Ecological footprint is an area indicator while the ecological footprint distance quantifies distance. The ecological footprint demonstrates the scope of natural space influenced by humans, while the ecological footprint distance describe the distance to which ecological dependence extends from a certain object, such as a city. The indicator of ecological footprint distance is an important complement to the theoretical system of ecological footprint and bio-capacity.