1.30.2008

Weekly Food Expenditure Across the Globe

As part of a student awareness program being promoted at my place of work the following email was sent out. I found it so interesting that I thought I would re-create it here for you.

Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11

Germany: The Melander family of Barfteheide
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

The email ended with a comment from the sender about counting our blessings. Mostly, though, I was truly embarrassed. We are supposed to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world and yet we clearly choose to have one of the poorest diets. Now it would be my hope that most of us don't actually eat as poorly as the American family in this case study does, but I'm guessing that if we laid out our food for a week we would be mighty shocked. In fact, that might not be such a bad idea. I'll tell you after seeing that family's food, I'm going to concentrate on buying and eating more fruits and vegetables. The other thing I noticed is the proof of globalization provided by these pictures. Did you notice how many families had bottles of Coke (or Pepsi)?

7 comments:

Denise said...

That is shocking! I know I have more fruits and veggies than the American family, that's kinda embarrassing! Very good thing to think about while were shopping at a very convenient store and getting boxed and packaged foods. The meats and breads were not in packages in a lot of the pictures. I would be too embarrassed to get my food out and take a picture because of all the junk food and pre-packaged products. I will have to work on that! Thanks for sharing.

Courtney said...

The following response just came through our email and I so thoroughly agreed that I thought I would pass it along (in part) as well:

"In a way, we pay more to poison ourselves which thereby requires more medical intervention to prolong life. Which blessings am I supposed to count - the pizza, the chips, or the soda?"

Nemesis said...

Duuuude. Yeah, I'd like to compare the health of these families. Bet you money the Americans won't come in first. That's so nasty.

MBC said...

The pictures and info come from a FANTASTIC book, Hungry Planet: What the World Eats. It has a lot more pictures like this and good contextual information about why different cultures eat the way they do. I highly recommend it!

I think in the book there are four American families, and none of them make the rest of us look good. So. Much. Fast. Food.

Courtney said...

Thanks MBC. I was thinking that the pictures looked too professional to be just an email. I'm going to look for the book right now.

Anonymous said...

it's interesting that only the american's eat fast food, and that there are no pizza places, mcdonald's, BK's, KFC's etc. in foreign countries.

wait....

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