When I was a little kid the only things often left on my plate were the remnants of noodles and a dreaded heap of vegetables. At that point you could count on a loving prompt from my mother that somewhere someone was starving (which is true) and I should be thankful for having food to eat (which is also true).
Recently I came across the work of Peter Menzel, a photojournalist with a stunning / convicting / enlightening body of work. In his book Hungry Planet he and author-journalist Faith D’Alusio set out to capture “families from around the world, revealing what people eat during the course of one week.” Some scarce and some gluttonous, the resulting work is a beautiful survey of the diversity of diets this world has to offer. Flipping through it imparted more gratitude than all of my mom’s auditory attempts (if only she would have recognized I was a visual learner). Below are a couple of excerpts from Time’s three part recap of the book.
Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
Family recipe: Okra and mutton
Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
Favorite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat
United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week: $341.98
Favorite foods: spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken
Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55
Family recipe: Potato soup with cabbage
Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
Favorite foods: pizza, crab, pasta, chicken
