Author Topic: "What the World Eats"  (Read 6747 times)

Ty Webb

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"What the World Eats"
« on: April 30, 2013, 07:25:50 AM »
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373695,00.html
Just came across this Time magazine slideshow. The American family definitely needs a punch in the face! $342 a week for all kinds of garbage "food".  Sad to see the amount of Coke the Mexican family drinks in a week.

Self-employed-swami

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #1 on: April 30, 2013, 07:51:21 AM »
I saw that, and had similar thoughts. But, depending on where in Mexico they are, coke might be cheaper than safe drinking water.

igthebold

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #2 on: April 30, 2013, 08:01:03 AM »
Several of the shots screamed, "Fruit! Vegetables!" at me. Love that, but it's striking the contrast between them and the American/British/German ones.

anastrophe

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #3 on: April 30, 2013, 08:07:50 AM »
I think there is a book too, which has way more photos of different countries--I found it fascinating. The thing that really stood out to me was how the food in industrialized nations came with so much packaging comparatively, especially the US and Japan--shrinkwrapped bananas! Bananas have peels, why do they need shrinkwrap?!

the fixer

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2013, 09:36:21 AM »
Does the book have any photos of Chile or South America? It's astonishing how terrible the food is there. Lots of white bread and mayonnaise.

I thought it was telling that in the Mexican family, every person who's old enough to show it is overweight.

Rural

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #5 on: April 30, 2013, 09:37:16 AM »
I noticed not only differences in the kinds of foods, but differences in the amounts. Look at the amount of food for the large family in Cairo or the family in Bhutan. Compare to the amount for the smaller families in America, Britian, and Germany.

limeandpepper

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #6 on: April 30, 2013, 09:47:57 AM »
Does the book have any photos of Chile or South America? It's astonishing how terrible the food is there. Lots of white bread and mayonnaise.
From the link, there's Ecuador and the food for the family featured looks pretty darn wholesome and unprocessed.

the fixer

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #7 on: April 30, 2013, 09:52:09 AM »
Oh yeah, I missed that was Ecuador. I think that's a pretty different part of South America than what I've seen. Chile and Argentina are more developed, but also less healthy (and the food costs a lot more)

Jill the Pill

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #8 on: April 30, 2013, 10:21:14 AM »
I own this book; also the authors' "Material World" -- where families from different countries are photographed with all of their belongings -- and "What I Eat" -- a similar project for individual daily food consumption.  "Hungry Planet" is about 10 years old now, so the weekly expenditures are probably out-of-date. 

TLV

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #9 on: April 30, 2013, 10:43:35 AM »
I'm curious to know if the "food expenditures" listed include everything shown, or if foods that they grew or bartered for don't count in the total. I can't say I envy the family living on $1.23/week of grains/legumes, but it would certainly cost 10-20x or more to get the same amount of the same staple foods around here.

Jamesqf

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #10 on: April 30, 2013, 10:53:19 AM »
The thing that really stood out to me was how the food in industrialized nations came with so much packaging comparatively, especially the US and Japan--shrinkwrapped bananas Bana!nas have peels, why do they need shrinkwrap?!

Where do you find shrink-wrapped produce in the US?  I can't recall ever having seen it, except maybe for some exotic fruits shipped from the tropics.  Indeed, the only produce that comes in containers of any sort are things like berries, or big bags of apples, potatos, etc.

I can also get almost any staple food from the bulk bins at WinCo.  And a lot of not-so-staples: I mean rice flour?  Almond flour?  Spices from anise to turmeric?

Nancy

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #11 on: May 01, 2013, 05:10:20 PM »
The thing that really stood out to me was how the food in industrialized nations came with so much packaging comparatively, especially the US and Japan--shrinkwrapped bananas Bana!nas have peels, why do they need shrinkwrap?!

Where do you find shrink-wrapped produce in the US?  I can't recall ever having seen it, except maybe for some exotic fruits shipped from the tropics.  Indeed, the only produce that comes in containers of any sort are things like berries, or big bags of apples, potatos, etc.

Publix in Florida. A lot of their produce is shrink wrapped - even cucumbers!

MtnGal

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #12 on: May 02, 2013, 08:39:21 AM »
The thing that really stood out to me was how the food in industrialized nations came with so much packaging comparatively, especially the US and Japan--shrinkwrapped bananas Bana!nas have peels, why do they need shrinkwrap?!

Where do you find shrink-wrapped produce in the US?  I can't recall ever having seen it, except maybe for some exotic fruits shipped from the tropics.  Indeed, the only produce that comes in containers of any sort are things like berries, or big bags of apples, potatos, etc.

I can also get almost any staple food from the bulk bins at WinCo.  And a lot of not-so-staples: I mean rice flour?  Almond flour?  Spices from anise to turmeric?

How about Sweet potatoes? I see them shrink wrapped all the time at the store being sold as "ready to microwave" for a dollar. Or you could just buy the ones next to them for less than half and use your own saran wrap...

Jamesqf

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #13 on: May 02, 2013, 12:19:10 PM »
Publix in Florida. A lot of their produce is shrink wrapped - even cucumbers!

Yet another great reason for not living in Florida :-)

And no, I don't think I've ever seen shrink-wrapped sweet potatos, though of course it might be that I have my eyes programmed to not notice such things.

Self-employed-swami

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #14 on: May 04, 2013, 05:58:42 PM »
Our cucumbers come shrink wrapped here, but nothing else does.

Sometimes things like peppers come in value bags, with 4+ peppers in them though.

Self-employed-swami

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #15 on: May 05, 2013, 03:25:58 PM »
Amazing. Thanks for posting this.

Our cucumbers come shrink wrapped here, but nothing else does.

Sometimes things like peppers come in value bags, with 4+ peppers in them though.

I think we shop at the same grocery chains. ;)

Good ol' Superstore!

mizzoujohn

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #16 on: May 05, 2013, 05:07:25 PM »
Quote

Yet another great reason for not living in Florida :-)


You're right, this year round beach/golf paradise with cheap cost of living is pretty rough.

Jamesqf

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #17 on: May 05, 2013, 10:13:27 PM »
Quote
Yet another great reason for not living in Florida :-)

You're right, this year round beach/golf paradise with cheap cost of living is pretty rough.

Been there.  Hotter than hell, and humid with it.  Besides, to me the urge to play golf is nothing but an early warning sign of Alzheimer's Disease :-)

zhelud

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Re: "What the World Eats"
« Reply #18 on: May 06, 2013, 07:00:26 AM »
I second the recommendation for the book "What I Eat," which is full of gorgeous photo spreads showing what different people around the world eat in a single day. It's arranged by calories, from least to most.