<p>A growing body of agri-food literature examines the values that underlie different forms of alternative food systems. Yet the understandings of what constitutes values and processes of valuation in general and which values underlie alternative food systems in particular differ greatly or remain undefined in the literature. This paper provides an overview of the conceptual understandings of values in social science literature. Based on a systematic literature review and a ‘snowball’ literature search, it then systematically presents the various meanings of ‘values’ as understood in the existing agri-food literature in order to deepen the understanding of the role of values in alternative food systems. Based on the analysis of the literature, the paper then synthesises the findings on values in the agri-food literature by attributing them to the four dimensions of social, spatial, ecological, and economic embeddedness. Thus, the paper offers a systematic and theoretically sound perspective on values in agri-food studies.</p>