What We Eat
Posted on January 23, 2008
Filed Under Revolution |
These pictures (from www.time.com) have been floating around World Vision for the past few days and have been particularly appropriate because we’re heading into the 30 Hour Famine in just a few months. I just thought it was really neat to make the comparisons and to think about how closely (if at all) each of these compare to how my food for the week looks. I realize that these may not all be represent the typical families in each of these countries, but I think they’re still valuable.
Did looking at this change the way that I think about the food that I eat?…Not necessarily. What did stick out, though, was the question of how much we consume, food and other resources, that we really don’t need. Then again, what really is need?…What our culture is dictating? What we become accustomed to?
Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07 
United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week: $341.98
Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11
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
Until next time…
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12 Responses to “What We Eat”
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Wow, I know you were not trying to make anyone feel guilty, and I don’t know if that is the proper way to describe how this made me feel, but it’s close.
We are a blessed and spoiled people here in the States.
One thing interesting is 5 out of 9 of these pictures has at least one bottle of Coca Cola in it. The Germans could have had it, but they the beer took up too much room. LOL
Thanks!
I tipped more this afternoon than one family spent on food for their entire week.
It’s humbling to realize what difference I could make with the small amounts of money I spend every day.
Thanks for this convicting visual.
You’re right, I certainly wasn’t trying to make anyone feel guilty. If anything, I hope we can all take from these photos that so many of us are blessed. We need to (I need to) be more thankful!
I imagine that even some of the people who we might consider not to have what would make us comfortable are completely satisfied. Need is quite subjective. In addition to noticing how much Coke the world drinks, I also thought it was interesting how much food (and how much fresh food at that!) you could get in countries like Egypt and even Mexico. So many probably eat healthier than I do!
Thanks for taking the time to put together this site. Very interesting in many ways.
Smiling faces do not always necessarily go with the biggest piles of food. The family in Ecuador seemed so happy. Wish I could put more food onto the blanket in front of the family from Chad.
Thanks
thank you. very important.
Thank you for this. It’s one big wake-up call.
Wow. I did a per person per day calculation:
Where Per Day Per person
Germany $17.86
United States $12.21
Italy $9.29
Mexico $5.40
Poland $4.32
Egypt $0.82
Ecuador $0.50
Bhutan $0.06
Chad $0.03
Very interesting. I agree with the other commenters — it amazes me how much we take for granted here in the States. I think it speaks volumes, too, about the prices of things here. Looking at the amount of fressh fruits and vegetables purchased by the families in Mexico and Egypt, and comparing their bill with mine (I eat FAR more fruits and veggies than the American family shown), I can only assume that fresh foods in those countries are more readily available and are less expensive than they are here. It’s also interesting to note the lack of meat in many of those spreads. Thanks for a great photo-essay.
[…] we eat How much do you spend on groceries each week? You might want to take a look at this. We both thought it was very […]
Mostly, what I see here is how much we can afford to spend on processed food in the u.s. (pizza, burger king, and lots of plastic-wrapped pre-made food) versus the family from Chad whose food is mostly grains and some smaller, simple items. The dollar amounts don’t stick out so much as where the money goes.
This is a great article - one I will link too.
Even more important and I think would also be a great calculation would be to show the amount of food wasted in one week by each family. Not only do we spend to much money on food, but we waste so much as well.
If you could salvage a lot of the food wasted (or even just buy less) there would be so much food to help feed the hungry in America. (of which there are over 3million every year)
Just the resturants and fast food joints alone would be able to feed the nations homeless an amazingly wealthy diet!
- be on the watch out for larger food harvesting programs I and other and trying to start.
This really made reality set in I can say that we are really blessed in the US. Look at what we spend weekly on food compared to the other countries. It has made me decide to regroup all of these extras are not needs I now see they are wants and I plan to cut back and give the difference of what I save to a good cause.