What the World Eats
As I was skimming through blog headlines on my Google Reader, trying to digest the absurd events of the week in 5 minutes or less, a Boing Boing post called “TIME on unsustainable farming practices,” caught my eye. After reading their quick excerpt of the article, I was motivated enough to head over to the TIME website and read the entire article, “Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food,” by Bryan Walsh. My interest was partly because I was surprised to see this story in TIME, and partly because I’m actually very interested in this topic.Readers may recall a few months back I wrote a post about Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma. The teachings from that book have certainly remained with me, and I continue to seek out interesting reads on similar topics (and send the links to my mom in Florida, preach to friends who will listen, use as ammo in arguments with my husband, etc.). This TIME article was definitely worth a read. Walsh essentially boils down the issues that Pollan investigates into a digestible sized article, and focuses on the farming practices, food production, and consumption in America that is both destroying the world and our health, all in the name of cheap eats. I like how he carefully frames his argument for a skeptical audience, by writing sentences like, “Sustainable food has an élitist reputation, but each of us depends on the soil, animals and plants — and as every farmer knows, if you don’t take care of your land, it can’t take care of you.” Good point.
Anyway, my favorite part of the article, and the thing that’s worth posting about in this blog, are the links to two photo slideshows called What the World Eats (Part 1 and Part 2). Each image, excerpted from the photo essay book Hungry Planet by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio, features a portrait of family from a different part of the world, in their home, surrounded by a week’s worth of groceries. The food is neatly organized into categories, and tastefully framed around the people who cook and eat them. At the bottom of each photo, a simple caption tells you what country they are in, the name of the family, and the city. Below that their food expenditure for the week is provided in the local currency, with the equivalent in US dollars. Finally, a few of the family’s favorite foods are listed. The beautiful, fascinating, and powerful images offer a out-of-context look at the stark contrasts (and similarities) between what people eat in different parts of the globe.
Take a look at the rather light load of the Dong family of 4 of Beijing, China. They spend roughly $155/week on groceries and their diet consists of fresh vegetables and fruits, some meat and fish, cooking sauces, juices, snack, and the weekly McDonald’s meal. Compare that image with the Ayme family from Tingo, Ecuador, all 9 of whom subsist of a diet of plantains, cabbage, potatoes, and grains for $31.55/week. Then look at the enormous spread of fresh produce and Coca-Cola that the Casales Family (of 5) eats in Cuernavaca, Mexico. And the almost entirely prepackaged and fast food meals of the (surprisingly thin) Revis family in North Carolina.
I for one will definitely be seeking out my own hardcover edition of the book. But meanwhile, I’m getting a better sense of the detail that it goes into about the families, the food, and the countries through the Google Books version. Oh, and there’s a nice 2005 NPR interview with the Hungry Planet authors that you can listen to, here.
Casales Family of Cuernavaca, Mexico
Did you read Kristof’s op-ed in the Times about sustainable farming? It’s more about his experience growing up on a farm in Oregon, it’s nice.