Food For The Week: What Families Across The Globe Are Bringing Home To Their Bellies

Faith D’Aluisio and Peter Menzel have successful careers documenting diet, economic and environmental habits of the world. They have a knack for juxtaposing stories to help individuals understand their habits in comparison to those of other time zones and means.

The pair have co-created several books and I think each project is successful because of their teamwork in the field. Peter, a photographer well known for his coverage of science and technology, and Faith, a former TV news producer and talented writer, are a husband and wife power team.

In 2008, they put together a photo album of families from 21 countries. Each portrait is full color and beautifully presents one family with their weekly food supplies. With each image the authors noted the expenditures, the family’s favorite foods, brand names and facts about the country.

D’Aluisio and Menzel have discussed the impact of their work and how they hope it adds to the discussion of nutrition education:

It’s interesting to watch children with this book in their hands. It doesn’t require being read from front to back and they don’t approach it in that manner anyway; they’re drawn in by the food portraits and begin immediately to compare themselves to what they see. Afterward they go back to fill in information. What the World Eats is meant to get kids thinking about the world around them, but also about the food on their own plates. The U.S. Center for Disease Control reports that one in every three children born in the year 2000 will develop type 2 diabetes at some point during their life, and that more than 60 percent of American adults, and 30 percent of children are overweight or obese. This in one of the richest, most powerful countries on the planet; we are eating ourselves to death, but we can do something about it if we understand the problems. This book aids that understanding.

An interview with the two of them can be found here.

Food is a powerful topic. It’s no surprise that the dietary habits of people help explain socioeconomic factors of a region. A simple viewing of contents at a “dinner table” sheds light on lifestyle, salary, climate and health conditions. This album is a testament to that. Your jaw will drop at how some of these purchases add up. Your jaw may also drop at what is being purchased. Some scenes are humbling and some are appalling. Some choices you may expect and some of the brands that appear may greatly surprise you. See for yourself in this selection from the book: