Food systems and their sustainability have been extensively studied in high-income coun- tries (HICs), yet less so in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), despite their impor- tance for global food security. In this study, we conducted a systematic scoping review to describe the extent, range, and nature of peer-reviewed literature assessing the sustainabil- ity performance of food systems in LMICs. The review revealed a recent and heterogeneous literature. From this diversity, 3 archetypes of epistemological approaches emerged, classi- fied by their purpose: observational, modeling, and transformative. All 3 approaches apply existing or tailored methods to specifically study food systems, and their objectives are to observe, model, or transform different parts of the food systems towards sustainability. Gaps in the literature include inconsistent definitions of food systems and frameworks and understudied drivers of food systems sustainability. Therefore, the development of a com- prehensive and systematic inventory of frameworks and their sustainability is crucial to determine the most suitable interdisciplinary methodologies for specific contexts and gener- ate actionable knowledge for food systems transformation.