Totally Fascinating!

[urbpan]

What the World Eats.

Thanks to bleppo for the link.

Bananas for everyone! Poor peoples' food comes in big sacks, while people from wealthier nations eat from colorful packages. In Italy and Mexico there's a lot of fresh fruits and veggies, apparently (and bread)!

I liked to scroll down slowly and try to guess what country each family was from.

Comments

[whatisbiscuits.livejournal.com]

Pizza seems to be a favourite dish in many places!

[bleppo.livejournal.com]

And I wonder how the pizza's differ from place to place. I had pizza in Norway once. That wasn't pizza. It was just... gross.

[nutmeg.livejournal.com]

the most striking thing here to me was the size of some of the families that were being fed for 20 or even 5 dollars a week.

an then how hard it is to imagine spending 350 dollars a week to feed us.

I mean I think we spend <100 dollars a week, granted, add two more people and that might go up to 200... but STILL. That is a lot of packaged and prepared foods.

[(Anonymous)]

I have Peter Menzel's book "Material World," which photographed statistically average families from around the world outside their homes with all their material possessions. It is a fascinating and challenging book. I got it for my kids to assist them in a global perspective, but it quickly became one of my favorite books. Looking at these kitchen table photographs, I think I want to live in Mexico. Just think of all the avocados!

[buboniclou.livejournal.com]

That's an amazing book, I've read it.

And anecdotally I've always heard how much Coke is consumed in Mexico but that picture really makes me say, damn.

[buboniclou.livejournal.com]

Also, am I the only one who thinks it's funny that here we eat Red Baron pizza and in Germany they eat Oven Fresh (Ofenfrische) brand?

[pipu.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is amazing. I can't believe the quantity of food some of the smaller richer families have. I can't imagine going through that much food in a week. Also, the amount of soda/juice/bottled water is insane. We go through a gallon of milk a week, and other than that, drink (tap) water and tea. Also, these pictures make me want to go eat with poor families. All their whole foods look so much better than the packaged crap!

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

i know that when my parents lived in paris, they used bottled water for like everrrrrything. the water there was so hard, there were calcium deposits on the taps and my hair had calcium flakes in it after i washed it.

[pipu.livejournal.com]

Eeew. I feel lucky to have such nice water available to me!

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

i know! it was gross.

[rinalia.livejournal.com]

Are those dead penguins in the Greenland pic? Possibly, since their favorite foods are polar bear, narwhal skin and seal stew.

Neat concept.

[macabre-grrl.livejournal.com]

Penguins only live south of the equator!

[rinalia.livejournal.com]

Then definitely not penguins!

http://www.linkinn.com/_What_the_World_Eats_Part_II-eurion

It's the ninth picture down, bottom right (and a few smaller critters in middle front). Is that a duck of some sort?

[macabre-grrl.livejournal.com]

The Italians like pasta with Ragu?! BE STILL MY HEART!

It's interesting to pick up on the American/Western influences that creep into people's diets. I know that Italy has a rising childhood obesity problem and many blame it on American food. We talked about it in my Italian class in school.

[harrietbrown.livejournal.com]

Apparently polar bear, narwhal and seal are tasty treats in the far northern parts.

It seems like those guys in South America eat LOTS of veggies. It seems like they probably have the best diet. That and France. I liked the food the French people had. I won't be eating polar bear anytime soon.

[bellelvsbeast.livejournal.com]

It's amazing to see how much money each family spends per week...I mean the German family spends $500 a week! WOA! I spend like that much a month...it's crazy...
Bananas are a pretty big staple in many diets...and yes I noticed Italy and Mexico get so many fresh fruits and veggies, it's easily accessed to them...
And the family from Canada eats NARWHAL and POLAR BEAR? Wow...well same with the family in Greenland...it's just hard to imagine...

[interglossa.livejournal.com]

This was very interesting and reminiscent of the Menzel book. This kind of exploration can be done not just horizontally (in current time across the world) but vertically (in the past of Western cuisine).

Jef, I got the impression you may be a un-fan of Wikipedia but the articles on Medieval cuisine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_cuisine) and porridge (largely equivalent apparently) were very interesting to me, even though I am only a foodie by osmosis.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

That's very interesting!

(For the record, I am a fan of wikipedia, but I avoid using it for "official" research. A couple times I've had to explain its usefulness to my Dad, who thinks it's the electronic equivalent of a bathroom wall.)