What the World Eats

decode 15 years ago |

I prefer this version, since it lists each item in the pictures, as well as breaking down the expenditures by category:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5005952

Some interesting bits:

The German family spends more on vitamins than any other category. The family from Chad gets $24.37 worth of free rations from relief organizations. Almost half of the Americans' expenditures are on Fast Food and Beverages.

eru 15 years ago | |

Those crazy Germans with their vitamin pills. They should just drive over to the Netherlands once a year, and buy their drugs there. It's way cheaper than in Germany.

Also all the bottled water is just crazy. German tap water is excellent in quality in all areas, and I like the taste in most areas I sampled. And never ever drink the Flensburger malt beer (unless you find a version that uses actual sugar and not sweetener).

The frozen pizza from Dr Oedtker is quite good. But for most other stuff, they could as well have bought it at Aldi for cheaper, instead of going for the higher priced branded items.

I guess I should stop ranting.

starkfist 15 years ago | | |

It looks like the bottled water is soda water. I am also a sucker for fizzy water.

sedachv 15 years ago | | |

They also consume a ridiculous amount of bread (+pasta), dairy and sugary beverages. And probably then wonder why they get fat.

jules 15 years ago | | |

First, they aren't fat.

Second, how can you judge this without knowing how much calories they burn?

sedachv 15 years ago | | |

Ignore the kids, look at the adults. They're not morbidly obese, but they are carrying excess fat. Without a change in diet, or adopting the training regime of a competitive athlete (do you know how many calories you need to burn every day to stay lean on that kind of diet?), this is likely to trend to obesity as they age.

jules 15 years ago | | |

I am not criticizing their diet. Look at their picture:

http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2007/hungry_planet/1...

These people are NOT obese. They are not super lean either, but for their age this looks like a perfectly healthy weight. In fact they are relatively lean compared to the other families.

d_c 15 years ago | | |

They don't look that fat :)

whyenot 15 years ago | | |

the American, Italian and Mexican families appear to consume equal or greater amounts.

sedachv 15 years ago | | |

Which is why it's no surprise that the Mexican family is also overweight.

But actually look at the photos of the American and Italian families. The Italians have almost half the food the Germans have, a small fraction of sugar drinks, and very little dairy. They also have one more child in the family. Which is why they look fit.

hristov 15 years ago |

Kudos to those Germans for putting their beer front and center.

petercooper 15 years ago |

With a couple of exceptions, they've picked some rather wealthy, atypical families. I start putting my rant hat on if we go over $90 in a week and that's double what I know some people spend each week. We're in the UK, 3 strong, have a reasonable diet with good meals each day and several treats. We'd all weigh 500lbs if we spent $500 a week on food (or be permanently glued to the toilet after eating non-stop fruit)..!

autarch 15 years ago |

It would've been very interesting to see some examples of people who've chosen to eat diets that are not the standard diet for their country. In particular, I'd like to see what vegans, raw foodists, Atkins dieters, and so on are eating.

I think the contrast between an American vegan and "Standard" American diet would be pretty interesting.

byrneseyeview 15 years ago | |

My girlfriend and I did it. We are fairly close to the paleo diet, although in this case there's some Matzo for passover.

http://eruv.livejournal.com/190127.html

sofuture 15 years ago | |

I'd like to see the contrast between American vegan and Atkins/Paleo.

chipsy 15 years ago |

This is the second time I'm looking at these photos. They're very memorable.

ciudilo 15 years ago |

People drink Coke everywhere...

gcheong 15 years ago | |

A breakdown of per-capital consumption of Coca-cola products worldwide:

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/ourcompany/ar/pdf/2009-pe...

ubernostrum 15 years ago |

Do I want to know what a "mayonnaise sandwich" is?

viggity 15 years ago | |

would you rather have a mayonnaise sandwich or "Pig's knuckles with carrots, celery and parsnips".

I think I may go for the mayonnaise sandwich.

joubert 15 years ago |

Instead of cereal, some of these families should eat real food for breakfast.

viggity 15 years ago |

the Ecuadorians love their hats, don't they?

sliverstorm 15 years ago |

I want to live in Sicily.

Also, good god. The North Carolina example is an assault of colors on my eyes.

mitjak 15 years ago | |

Don't worry, it's all corn under wraps.