A weeks worth of groceries around the world... (Dial up intenstive)

[Pelican]

I thought the stuff from Mongolia looked good and Turkey. Bit of France and bit of Germany for old times sake and since I'm in Afghanistan I miss some of the stuff on the US table as well.

Good lord I need some proper vegetables...

Note: It gets a bit depressing towards the bottom...


http://imgur.com/a/mN8Zs

Mexico


Britain


USA


Australia


Germany


Italy


Canada


France


Japan


China


Poland



Kuwait


Mongolia


Turkey


Mali


India


Bhutan


Chad


Ecuador


Guatemala

[Agschmid]

1. You are what you eat...

Or at least what's easily available to eat... Great thread thanks for posting!

[Mnemosyne]

2. Thank you, Pelican, very interesting comparisons. I notice that sodas are in many of these photos,

but the poorer the country it seems that less to no soda consumed.

The American diet is frightening.

Stay safe!

[Recursion]

3. Soda is affordable to something like 97% of the world's population

They make a point of that.

And that said, while I avoid soda in the US, it's pretty much the only thing I drink in sub-saharan Africa.

[Mnemosyne]

81. I hope that the soda overseas is at least sugar based, rather the HFCS. What a world.

I'd love to drink a soda in sub-Saharan Africa too! How fortunate you have had the experience!

[reformist2]

4. Love it. USA wins award for most processed food! 2nd only to Chad for fewest vegetables.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

52. Look at Japan again.

[Wednesdays]

69. I buy Japanese imports regularly

There's a lot of "prepackaged" stuff, but most of it doesn't contain the amounts of additives that one finds in our packaged foods. The prepackaging is in large part because Japan is so darn crowded, that they have to conserve space--most Japanese have to live in tiny apartments. It's far more efficient, for example, to store a box of instant potatoes than a ginoromous bag of spuds. Or, you might see their instant miso soup packets at your local grocery store...it's wafer-thin, as opposed to having to store a large jar of bean paste and vegetables. This way, a family could conceivably store a month's worth of non-perishable items in less than a cubic foot of space.

Japan's diet has historically emphasized seafood, and they have little history of red meat and no history of milk products until the postwar period.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

72. Their traditional cooking is low fuel too....

Since they live on an island there were historically few trees to use for fires so they came up with stir fry which allows you to fast cook a fairly large amount with a few sticks.

Still, the modern Japanese diet has a LOT of gimmickry which requires processing. Then there's the fascination with the Western Diet by the younger generations.

[Recursion]

5. China has the KFC

That was kind of funny.

[CrispyQ]

6. Fascinating!

Thank you for posting!

k&r

[closeupready]

7. Mexico, India, Bhutan, and Guatemala seem to have the best.

Most veggies, few processed foods, abundance of greens with a small portion of meat, if it's there at all.

[zeemike]

49. Except for the Coke in the Mexican family.

I counted a dozen 2 liter bottles...but lots of veggies.

[Robb]

8. Nearly everyone has bananas. This fascinates me.

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. I'm shocked by the images with two dozen eggs

Australia, Canada, Kuwait, Turkey.

People eat two dozen eggs in a week? What???

[octothorpe]

16. As a kid, I'm sure my family ate close to that.

With a family of four, we had eggs a few times a weeks for breakfast which probably took at least a dozen. Also, my mom used to cook and bake a lot of things that needed eggs the recipe.

[tblue37]

20. I live alone. I eat 2 eggs for breakfast daily. if one other

egg eater lived with me, we'd top two dozen. Eggs in the morning are my main protein source, and the only protein I can stomach in the early morning. I do eat meat, but not all that much. Besides, I really like eggs, prepared in almost any way, and there are so many ways to prepare them!

[Lex]

22. Me too. Protein much better for me in the a.m.

than carbs like bagels or cereals. And my cholesterol numbers are fine too.

[nolabear]

23. Me three. I learned not that long ago that if I eat morning protein I eat less all day.

And I have no cholesterol issues. They're debunking that egg thing. Shrimp too, hallelujah!

[noamnety]

27. I'm jealous.

I was going through a bunch of eggs in the morning, lost a lot of weight having the morning protein. And I'd read a lot about that egg cholesterol link being debunked.

But at the end of a year, I got tested and my cholesterol was through the roof. The doctor was going to talk prescription meds, but I said I wanted 90 days to self-correct. After 90 days with less than a dozen eggs total, my cholesterol was back to optimal.

I'm sad about that, it was easy to see the direct cause and effect in my own lab results, but I would love to go back to egg/broccoli scrambles every morning.

[Lex]

34. Yes, sometimes it's a genetic propensity. I have a

thin coworker who eats practically no meat or eggs and her cholesterol is sky-high and she's on meds for it.

[prairierose]

48. Have you tried flax seed or

or flax seed oil. I got my cholesterol down by eating oatmeal and taking flax seed oil. I love eggs too and would eat them 3 times a day but I suppose that would be a bit too much.

[noamnety]

51. I got it back down in 90 days

so I'm not going to pay for flax seed oil, but if I were still having problems I'd try it. I'm doing oatmeal for breakfast daily now and that worked. But it was a bummer that I had to add daily carbs back in, I've regained some of my weight because of that.

[CoffeeCat]

64. We eat eggs most mornings...

I combine 2-3 eggs with egg whites and make scrambled eggs for our family of four. We do this at least 5 times a week and we easil go through 3 dozen eggs a week. Always looking for a good deal on eggs and I stock up when I find one!

[TheManInTheMac]

13. Bananas are cheap versatile and excellent

sources of essential nutrition. Same goes for eggs. These pics are great.

[undeterred]

38. they found the only American and Chinese families that do not eat bananas

[Crepuscular]

57. I'm guessing

In Ecuador and maybe some of the others, that those are plantains, not bananas, a source of starch not unlike a potato.

[CoffeeCat]

65. I read once that bananas...

...are the most often purchased item in grocery stores. If I'm remembering correctly, this was
about U.S. consumption. Most people get some bananas when they're at the grocery store, I suppose!

[morningfog]

67. Bananas are the SUVs of the agricultural world.

They take the most resources to transport and ship.

[glowing]

10. I want an infusion of many of these countries...

Guatemala, India, Ecuador, Japan, china, turkey, poland, italy and Germany... If you live in a larger city, many of these types of foods can be created from produce around the world.. I have an Indian and mexican store that is close to me.. they have amazing pepper selections etc.. just have to bring a translator ap... LOL

[denverbill]

11. Wow Mali and Chad both had almost nothing but grains/beans.

[Robb]

12. The Mali picture is notably missing Pepsi.

I don't recall walking ten feet without seeing someone drinking Pepsi.

[Poll_Blind]

14. Good post! nt

PB

[Lucky Luciano]

15. Interesting. Nt

[octothorpe]

17. How come China and the US are the only ones with fast food?

[pangaia]

18. Looks like the worst three

are the English speakers. :&gt

Think I will move to Bhutan... look at all those chilis !!! Yummy....

[noamnety]

19. I just brought in a week of my own groceries to my classroom.

We were doing a virtual food stamp challenge, but I did the actual shopping for mine.

breakfast was steel cut oats and strawberries (eating that as I type)
lunches: cottage cheese and strawberries and a salad with bell pepper and 1/4 cup chopped ham
dinner: 1/2 lb ham, red potatoes, a cup of broccoli (until the ham was gone, then use the bone for soup with dried beans, carrots and tomato paste for the last two nights)
snacks: homemade yogurt with more berries

Not much variety, but wholesome and balanced. It was eye opening for me to see how many kids in my class budgeted out their week and prioritized soda, then went to processed foods - or had trouble coming up with meals but bought a case of bottled water. I brought in my groceries to show them that I got real food - how sad is that?

[haikugal]

55. How many

of your kids know how to cook? When my son went to college he couldn't believe how few kids knew how to cook or fix things.

Great thread idea. I noticed the family in Chad had one bottle of water...for a week? They have so little to eat it made me sad to see...no greens or fruit. Water...

I enjoyed looking at these photos and marveled at the smiles on everyones face...beautiful humans.

Bhutan's food and people look lovely...Thanks for this OP and please stay safe! Welcome to DU!!

[noamnety]

58. Mostly they don't know how to cook.

But the meat/protein for the week didn't need any cooking - I didn't even buy eggs to cook.

Oatmeal just gets boiled with water on the stove. Lunches were cottage cheese and strawberries, and a salad, no cooking. The only cooking for dinner for the first 5 days was just microwaving a plain potato, and microwaving broccoli in a bowl with water. The last two days was making a soup, I get that they wouldn't know how to make soup from scratch, or how to make yogurt for snacks from scratch - even though they are both ridiculously easy.

[haikugal]

60. How about a yogurt

and/or Kiefer project? You could use a good starter and eventually send them all home with live culture. Just a thought. Home made is so much better and so easy...as you said. How did the kids respond to your lesson? Off topic but your post interested me.

Do they know how to grow veggies? That's also cheap and easy...

When I was in school we had home economics class...I think that has been cut, along with art and music. A shame.

Keep up the good work.

[noamnety]

62. The kids had a mix of reactions.

They were surprised at the difference in prices between big chain stores and smaller markets - I gave them the full food stamp amount to work with, but I used just a third of that for myself, spending $10.23 for the week.

It was actually a graphics project (excel chart making) but I like the real world tie in with some of the projects. It gave me a chance to talk about what my chart shows (I can eat well on $10 a week) vs. what's left out: I had to make trips to three different stores, which I can do because I have a car, I'm not trying to haul a case of strawberries on the bus, I'm not having to drag a small child with me, I have internet access and a printer and can research prices, and so on.

I think I would love to be a home ec teacher, but that's completely cut out of the curriculum. We're graduating a generation of kids who are beyond stressed out having to learn trig to get a high school diploma, knowing most of them will never use it again, and who don't know how to cook a vegetable.

[Marrah_G]

77. My boys started cooking dinner at least once a week when they hit high school

They both like cooking now and I really wanted to make sure they could live off more then ramen noodles when they left home.

[haikugal]

82. I agre with you...

it's good to start them as soon as they can do it safely. My son started at ten, learning how to cook on the gas stove. He's a very good cook now. He also grew up making his own Ninja costumes etc. so he knows how to use a sewing machine...we gave him things to take apart so he's good at fixing things etc.

I brought him up to know how to take care of himself but I had more resources than someone who is very poor.

[noamnety]

84. that's awesome.

I wish more parents did that!

[oldandhappy]

71. good job

That was an excellent series of lessons, discussions you led.

[reformist2]

21. Germany appears to have a drinking problem!

[wickerwoman]

73. LOL'ed at how they lined everything up too

and all the other countries just piled things randomly.

[Ikonoklast]

24. Leave it to the f*****g French to eat cats.

Bastards.

[NBachers]

25. OK, that gets the laugh of the day

[BethanyQuartz]

28. The cat does seem to come with a healthy side dish though

[L0oniX]

29. DUzy

[dionysus]

30. and the polish people are sporting a dog! bastards!

[heaven05]

47. yep

[haikugal]

56. LOL!!!

Thanks for that!!

[Marrah_G]

78. lmao!

[Donald Ian Rankin]

26. Were these made up, or worked out from evidence? N.T.

[lumberjack_jeff]

37. I speculate that the family recorded what they ate in a week

then the photo shoot was arranged from that info.

The problem is selecting a family who is reflective of the country in question.

[Pelican]

43. Unsure...

Obviously staged to some degree...

Google linked to a huffpo article.

_____________

Whether you're tucking into a pizza, grilled fish or fresh fruit, the next time you sit down to a meal, take a moment to consider how your counterparts across the planet experience the same ritual.

This series of fascinating photographs, shot by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio, show the weekly groceries and dietary habits of families around the globe.

From the book Hungry Planet, the series entitled What The World Eats chronicles food trends across the planet with some both obvious and surprising results.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/27/what-the-world-eats-a-weeks-groceries-planet-pictures_n_3168696.html?utm_hp_ref=uk?ncid=GEP

[CoffeeCat]

66. This same exhibit...

...was at our local Science Center. They had the pictures blown up to large poster sizes, and they were next to one another---for easy comparisons.

Very interesting and very eye opening.

My feeling about this is...I wish I had more self control. I try to eat healthy, but the preponderance of junk food in this country, makes it so difficult. I'm not making excuses, but I sometimes fantasize that I lived in a place that didn't make it so damn easy to eat poison and food that will make you fat. I don't ever eat fast food or drink soda. However, our processed food is so damn unhealthy--filled with fats, sugars, salt and chemicals--that if you make just a few poor choices per week--you are on your way to weight gain and being unhealthy. It sucks. Why even have food like this? It's not nutritional.

[gvstn]

31. Thank you for a great thread!

You did a great job posting the pictures and labels. Really easy to see the comparisons and I found it fascinating.

I'm saving this for later to study these pictures to see what processed foods I can eliminate. I thought I didn't eat a lot of processed food but these pictures say different. Can't help but notice my ubiquitous box of "Ritz" crackers like the one in the pic from Kuwait.

[lonestarnot]

32. There are some pictures that are glaringly absent.

[morningfog]

68. Yes, and most are not true representations of an entire country.

[ChazII]

80. I don't know if this is what you are referring to but

after the food selections, I noticed that most of the households are male/female head of households. Parents are male/female instead of two moms or two dads.

[lonestarnot]

86. Yes those.

Or one dad and one mom. You know. Reality.

[L0oniX]

33. Chad and Mali speak volumes.

[Overseas]

35. K&R. Beautiful photos!

Fascinating glimpse into their lives.

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. My groceries look closer to Mexico

And nothing like the US. With all the food allergies etcetera, we really avoid a lot of processed foods.

Ironically Mexico and the US take turns in obesity rates...and from experience...that is not typical. Instant soups and fast food are really up there in the menu

[petronius]

40. Is that all meat in the lower-right of the Australia picture? Even for a family

of seven, that seems like quite a lot...

[1monster]

41. Depressing toward the bottom? Okay, Mali and Chad had very little food and little

variety. That is depressing.

But Turkey, India, Bhutan, Equador, and Guatemala all have plenty of fresh vegetable, fruit, and grains. Their diets look very nutritional and balanced.

The most depressing was the United States. The only fruits/vegetables were a couple of tomatos and two bunches of grapes. There were a few slices of fresh meat. Everything else was processed and decidedly unhealthy.

[treestar]

45. Agreed, I envied Guatamala!

That looks very healthy and good!

[Coyotl]

42. Fukushima fish?

[treestar]

44. My first impression

Our obesity problem might have to do with pre-packaged foods.

[heaven05]

46. and

the winner is! The two represented countries with very little to eat each WEEK? It is very telling.

[russspeakeasy]

50. A picture is definitely worth more than a thousand words...

What an interesting concept.

[smirkymonkey]

53. Wow! Really interesting thread. K&R!

I find this fascinating. Of course, my weeks groceries would look much different. I don't buy any processed foods or snacks.

[smackd]

54. three things jump out

1) a significant portion of the German diet appears to be beer. awesome.

2) Japan has a lot of processed/pre-packaged food.

2) pretty much everybody has more fresh produce in their diet than USA. not awesome.

[Gin]

59. Fascinating......thanks for posting

[StrayKat]

61. This list is a few years old now.

It is very interesting, but I was hoping it might have been redone to see how diets are changing or pick a some different spots for comparison.

I notice that some people are judging the diets by what they have been told is good, i.e. most fresh fruit and veg, but I think if I judge the best diet by the people who (obviously very superficially) look the healthiest and happiest, Mali wins. The family seems to glow.

[BrotherIvan]

63. This is always so interesting

Makes me yearn for traveling!

And while I do think the British diet is even more alarming for the absence of anything out of a box, all these photos are most indicative of adults working outside the home as the need for convenience food goes way up. So while we may condemn the diets of nations with lots of packaged food, we cannot compare them to countries where shopping and cooking is literally a full-time job. My relatives from India would all start cooking early in the morning and cook all day long as that cuisine is especially time-consuming. I love to cook and refuse to eat processed food, so most of my little free time is spent shopping and cooking, but that's my priority. Because big companies basically make health-taking foods rather than health-making, it must be so hard for a busy family to eat well. I wish we could encourage less time working like a dog for little pay and more time for cooking, gardening and health. Oh well, it's a nice dream.

[oldandhappy]

70. Mexico, Italy, Guatemala win for fresh veggies and fruit

[Locut0s]

74. As someone familiar with the diet of China I must say that the chinese photo...

Seems to represent a family that is among the more westernised in terms of diet. There are many Chinese in modern China who now have a more western diet but I'm hesitant to say that photo is really representative.

Thanks for the post though. I've seen this before but it's great to see it again.

[jakeXT]

75. Poland is cheating with dog & cat food /nt

[JNelson6563]

79. As a poor American

who won't eat crap my groceries look more like the family's from Chad than any of the others with perhaps a bit more produce.

I found this to be fascinating! Love all the pics and the subsequent comments too! Great thread idea!

Julie--who couldn't help but smile at the beer in German photo

[sendero]

83. Wow!

Awesome!

[diane in sf]

85. The amount of candy and soda pop in the more affluent countries is appalling. The lack of eggs or

meat or other animal protein in the poorer is also disturbing. Generally it's insect content or outright insect eating in poorer countries that save people from protein and B vitamin deficiency diseases.