Based on residents’ food consumption data from 31 provinces in China from 2015–2021, this study analyzes the deviation in food consumption from nutrition targets and the spatial distribution characteristics of urban and rural residents in China from 2015–2021, and finds that there are irrationalities in the structure of food consumption of Chinese residents as well as regional differences in consumption. The food consumption of Chinese residents deviates from the recommended values of the Chinese Food Guide Pagoda to a certain extent, with large differences between urban and rural areas and provinces. Therefore, a new concept of food security with nutrition as the target should be established to guide residents’ food consumption scientifically and rationally, and to adopt focused attention and targeted measures for regions with serious imbalances in food consumption.