Hungry Planet

I'm finally getting back into reading more regularly. My latest read was Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith d'Aluisio. Peter and Faith photographed families around the world with one week's worth of food, either food purchased or grown. For each entry, the food is divided into categories such as dairy, fruits and vegetables, grains, drinks, and other. A total price is given and converted to U.S. dollars (published in 2005)

. There is also a story about the family and some of the foods pictured. A country profile tells how many calories are available per person per day, what percentage of the population lives in rural or urban areas, what percentage of the population is overweight or obese, and how many McDonald's restaurants are in each country. The families food purchases are placed in the contexts of fast-food, globalization of food, food with a face, diabesity, and ethical food choices.

I enjoyed seeing how much packaged versus unpackaged foods were pictured. In Okinawa, 96 year-old Matsu doesn't shop in a supermarket because there isn't one. She grows her own vegetables or purchases them from a local cooperative. She cannot fathom that some people don't grow any of their food and have no agricultural knowledge. She also has no idea was fast food is. I've expanded my own garden this year.

The authors also have a book that shows what people around the world eat in a day. I did a mental tally of what I've eaten so far today: 1 bagel with cream cheese, a peach, some raspberries, a Frappucino, chicken fries, 160z of loose leaf tea, and some water. I think I would be slightly appalled to photograph what my family eats for a week, but reading this book and looking at the pictures was a bit of a wake-up call. We eat a lot of packaged food and more sugar and fat than we should.

France

Chad

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