Jun 09 2008
If we are what we eat, then what does our food tell us about ourselves?
My theme for the week is Food.
Yes, food, food, glorious food.
Food is a big part of my life… not only because I’m hungry all the time due to the very early start every workday, but also I’ve always known how to eat well and appreciate food since I was a kid. Yes, you would get a “tsk tsk” in my house if you didn’t finish your bowl of rice. My father would always tell us how he had to fight to earn his rice bowl when he was young. Of course, I’m grateful I didn’t have to go through the same experiences he did, but I’ve had my fair share of food battles as well. Let’s put it this way; I learned early on that “you need to watch what you eat.”
Having said that, there was a provoking email I received recently, which is really what I want to talk about. As you can see, there are some amazing pictures. The Washington Post describes the work as, “A coffee table book that will certainly make coffee interesting.”
The images really speak for themselves. What do their clothes, food and diet say about their lives? What can you infer about their cultures from the pictures?
It’s pretty unbelievable and at the same time, sort of cool, don’t you think? I’m actually glad that somebody has decided to do this and take a look at the world from this particular point of view. I appreciate it because it has led me to rethink some things…
Food For Thought…
Take a good look at the family size & diet of each country, and the availability & cost of what is eaten in one week.
Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11
Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07
United States: The Revis family of North Carolina (Sure hope most American families eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less junk food than this family.)
Food expenditure for one week $341.98
Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27
Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55
Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
All of us probably take away different bits of information and conclusions by looking and studying these pictures. Personally, I was blown away at the amount of food consumed by some families. But beyond that initial astonishment, I found myself wondering what the social, nutritional and environmental implications were – blame it on my journalistic instincts.
The Rich vs. The Poor (Take Chad and Germany for example- A family of six living in eastern Chad’s food costs $1.23 per week, while a German family of four’s food budget amounts to $500.)
Slow food vs. Fast food (Do you notice how Bhutanese food is almost all fresh while food consumed in countries such as the US and Germany are mostly packaged and processed?)
Cultural Homogenization. (It is fascinating how excluding places where poverty is the most extreme, Coca-Cola makes a frequent appearance. A Good or Bad idea? — you decide.)
Oh, and don’t forget who’s healthier too!
Obviously, each family’s diet is determined by factors such as poverty and globalization. The series of photos provide an insightful look at what families from all around the world consume in a week. The contrasts between the well-off and the families of the Third World are enough to put some of us to shame at how we waste food or overly indulge in food. It’s a bit sad knowing that some studies have shown there are now more overweight people on Earth than those who don’t have enough to eat.
I can’t help but wonder what my week’s worth of food would look like and what surprises it might reveal to me.
So, where do you stack up?
19 responses so far
hey interesting pics! see also people from xinjiang who are mainly on a fruit diet, honeydew, grapes, sultanas…i think their health and complexion is 10x better than ours.
Me? i like sichuan food. I frequent this little sichuan eatery along Jalan Sultan. Cheers, S.
I’m surprised that nobody asked any Chinese families what they eat.
Do keep blogging - albeit more frequently!
Seeing you on the news is the only thing that makes TV Mobile bearable if not enjoyable.
Just learned of your blog through cowboycaleb. Please do keep blogging.
Hmmm……the pics were absolutely shocking!!! At a time of a global food crisis, its indeed sad to see the amount of food ppl in the west can stock up……and i’m quite sure dey can’t consume all da fod on da table!!! Just thnk of all the WASTED FOOD per week……and den dat african family with barely enough food 2 keep goin’. Hmph…….until da global capitalist system changes……we can’t hope for anythng bettr! So live with it….muahahahaha! But anyway, tis a nice blog, kip postin’. Rhonnie (Sri Lanka).
Yea, read that before in a National Geographic book. But those which were shown are the above average middle class families, in real, I dont think it’s the same at all coz more poors than middle or upper class
It’ll be interesting and educational to compare a similar family & profile from Singapore on their weekly food consumption/expenditures …
Please keep up the blogging … Cheers.
taking a quick look at the US family and Chad, almost all of the food from the US family were processed food! no wonder the the more affluent a society becomes, the more health problem they get!
The Italian family has more fruits and breads.
The German family has more liquids. The father must enjoy beer a lot.
The American family’s appetite for fastfood is more apparent.
It’s interesting none of them are stereotypically overweight. I’d wager the boys are taller than most of the adults in the other pictures.
The Mexican family has an awful lot of Coke. Not surprisingly, 3/5 of them are characteristically fat. Softdrinks simply have empty calories.
The Polish family has more veggies. Despite that, the son (?) is umm… kind of fat.
Ecuador and Bhutan family have a more vegetarian diet.
Egyptian family strikes a balance with meat and veggies.
Chad family, not surprisingly, lack sufficient nutrition, but they still have that much food for a buck and quarter??? It costs about $1 for a kilo of rice in the Philippines! The same goes for Bhutan.
The pictures were initially surprising but it gets you analyzing and understand the situation better. I don’t know exactly how much waste is made by the more affluent families, but processed food have long shelf-life. As long as you haven’t opened it, it will be at least a month before that Frito Lays expire.
Hi Suzanne, Was it on PTM that we heard an interviewer say food is the best way to bridge cultural gaps but it’s sad there are rumours of food wars breaking soon and who knows in the distant future water wars if this replaces oil and becomes scarce. Sorry for being a pessimist today.
The consumption of processed and junk food is tied in with the affluence of the society. So the more rich we are, the more crap we tend to take in. Keep a food diary and u will be amazed of how unhealthy we Singaporeans are by stuffing junk in our mouths regularly.
Hi Suzanne!
I am currently in Boston for work, will be here for 5 weeks. Most of the food here is processed food & their portions are hugh!!! Obesity seems fairly common here.
I also noticed that most of US food is sweet & they really love their dunkin donuts like we love MacDonalds.
Btw do u check these responses? Do continue to blog & hope to get yr reply soon.
cheers,
Glen
Hi Suzanne,
My mother also would say, waste not and want not, when it came to meals. I can’t recall family eating habits until we lived on a company plantation. Before that we had a cook, house boy, maid and little boy, plus a chauffer as our house hold staff. I guess we ate or were fed by them.
I remember helping mother with making of Christmas cake though and the best part of this was to finish the remnants after mixing the ingredients. On the estate we enjoyed the same perks as company directors did, due to the lonely life style and contribution to the national GDP. There too, we had lots of household help.
However, we sat together for dinner with our parents, arrived at the breakfast table individually and lunch the children ate together, due to our parents different schedules, bearing in mind work and taking care of my little brother. Yet my mother insisted that I say thank you to the servants who served me.
I don’t think the household staff had different food to what we ate, excepting at night time, because they prefered rice and curry to western food. It was a different story when we returned to Colombo and there was a government austerity drive. We had only a maid then and ate differently to the outstation days.
That was during the holidays but in boarding school I couldn’t stomach the food. One does get used to a forced diet with time and the independance I learnt at school, has helped me survive alone increasingly. This doesn’t mean I’m an anti social being but yes, food and the partaking of food together congenially, is vital.
This is a fabulous post. thank you
Money Magazine New Construction Associated Press…
I didn’t agree with you first, but last paragraph makes sense for me…
Somebody said individuals are controlled with food and nations are controlled by energy. Why do we have to control, rather than care for individuals??
Hi Suzanne
Interesting post.. came at a time that I’m just evaluating my diet. You’re right.. “progress” tends to swing food consumption towards the processed foods. The packaging is another aspect to take note of… more process = more packages. I guess the more developed the coutry, the more likely its landfills will have more food packaging waste.
Think about it!
pc
these pictures are thought provoking indeed…
do we live to eat or eat to live?
I think we eat to live but living to eat’s equal to a prestige smile ah!
Hi, so how do you find singapore? For me.. i find both korean and japanese styles.. the best and unique too lols