Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio, a husband and wife team from California, travelled to 24 countries around the world photographing and documenting what 30 families eat in one week.
This clever couple put their findings in a book called Hungry Planet: What The World Eats.
Each of the families profiled in the book includes detailed interviews, a description of their weekly food purchases, their favourite foods and photos of them in food markets and at home surrounded by a week’s worth of groceries and more.
It’s a far cry from what you might order at a 3 star Micheline restaurant in Paris which can cost up to $1,000
I’ve pulled together a selection of those images from the book below.
What people eat in one week around the world (in photos)
North America
United States- North Carolina
Food Cost 1 week: $341.98
Favourite food: spaghetti, potatoes, chicken with sesame seeds
Canada- Nunavut Territory
Food expenditure for one week: US$345
Favourite Foods: narwhal, polar bear, extra cheese stuffed crust pizza, watermelon
Central America
Mexico-Cuernavaca
Food Cost 1 week:1 862.78 Mexican pesos or $189.09
Favourite food: pizza, crab, pasta, chicken
Lots and lots of fruits but check out all the coke on the back table. Holy coke-a-moly!
South America
Ecuador- Tingo:
Food Cost 1 week: $31.55
Family recipe: Potato soup with cabbage
*Humbling, notice all the bananas or Plantaines and bags of grain and potatoes and the lack of processed stuff.
Europe
United Kingdom: Cllingbourne Ducis
Food Cost 1 week: 155.54 British Pounds or $253.15
Favourite foods: avocado, mayonnaise sandwich, prawn cocktail, chocolate fudge cake with cream
Not many vegetables or fruits looks mostly processed, and they said one of their favourite foods is mayonnaise sandwich. Please tell me that’s a pseudonym for something else.
Germany: Bargteheide
Food Cost 1 week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07
Favourite foods: fried potatoes with onions, bacon and herring, fried noodles with eggs and cheese, pizza, vanilla pudding
I see lots of leafy greens along with beer and wine. Where are the sausages and currywurst?
France: Montreuil
Food expenditure for one week: 315.17 euros or $419.95
Favourite Foods: Delphine Le Moine’s Apricot Tarts, pasta carbonara, Thai food
Notice the Nutella way in the back. No milk. Lots of yogurt and cheese but seriously, where are the baguettes? I do not know one French person who does not eat baguettes at least once a week. Makes me wonder.
Africa
Africa: Chad
Food Cost 1 week: 685 CFA francs, or $1.23
Favourite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat
I had to stare at this photo for a very long time. I feel humbled by this image. Is that all the water they drink in one week between all of them? I see the grains and maybe rice, but they have no fruits veggies? Is this really enough to sustain them, or is it that we ( the rest of the world) overeat?
Egypt: Cairo
Food Cost 1 week: 387.85 Egyptian pounds, or $68.53
Family recipe: Okra and mutton
Wow, this looks amazingly good and healthy. Lots of veggies and fruits and hardly any carbs at all.
Australia: Riverview
Food Cost 1 week: 481 Australian dollars, or $376
Family Recipe: Marge Brown’s Quandong (an Australian peach) Pie, Yoghurt
Lots of water. A good mix of meat, beans and fruit. Still seems like a lot of processed food in the back on top of the stove. Where is the Vegemite?
Asia
China: Beiijing
Food Cost 1 week: 1 233.76 yuan, or $155.06
Favourite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce
What’s interesting is that this family has the least amount of vegetables are on the table, although they do consume lots of fruits.
Japan: Kodaira
Food Cost 1 week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25
Favourite foods: sashimi, fruit, cake, potato chips
Check out all the pre-packaged foods on the floor. Notice very little red meat and chicken. Mostly fish.
South Asia:
Bhutan: Shingkhey Village
Food Cost 1 week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork
Lots of greens, fruits and look at that big bag probably filled with rice.
Conclusion:
What people eat around the world varies from family to family, but there is something to be said about these eye-opening photos.
The western world, in general, eats a lot of processed foods — cereals, bread, chips, sodas etc.
Many families don’t eat enough greens, vegetables or fruits. Even parts of Asia seemed to consume a large amount of processed foods.
In other countries where these processed foods are perhaps less readily available, or maybe just because of cultural reasons, more fresh produce is eaten like in South East Asia, Egypt and Africa.
Pick up a copy of the whole book at
Cultural geographers Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio visited twenty-five families in twenty-one countries to create this fascinating look at what people around the world eat in a single week. Each family's profile features Full-color photographs of the family posing with the food consumed in a week, food cost and quantity. A world map where each family lives. Facts about that country, including population, currency, average income, and more.
Photos: PETER MENZEL/BARCROFT MEDIA
