Found this interesting... What the world eats..

[Faith]

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373664,00.html

Sorry, if it's already been posted before. It is interesting.

[Tutor]

Isn't that amazing?

[mrscopterdoc]

Thanks for sharing! That was very interesting!

Now, what to cook for dinner tonight.............

[Ria]

Fascinating...but why is the British family eating a mayonnaise sandwich? Gack!!

Ria

[Jill, OK]

...and I think it's fascinating, too.

I thought of having a blog call, trying to get folks to do something similar (put all your shopping for one week out on the table), but I didn't figure it would go over well, lol.

Thanks for posting this...I had wondered how to adjust my email so that I could post it; I didn't realize it was online like that!

[Antonia]

The one family of four had more juice, etc. for one week than my family downs in a year! And, with apologies to Peek-a-boo, it seems like we drink waaaaay too much soda in this country!

[abbeyej]

Fascinating...but why is the British family eating a mayonnaise sandwich?

Lol, Ria. When I was a child, I said I was hungry while at my grandparents' house. My aunt said, "I only ate half my sandwich -- you can have the other half." I didn't even ask what it was before I took a bite. Poor, foolish child. Mayonnaise. On white bread. I nearly gagged. I've recovered somewhat over the years and can handle small quantities of mayo in certain foods -- I've never bought the stuff or used it on purpose though. (And no, I don't make a distinction between gooey white sandwich spreads.)

Also, the photos were all from the book Hungry Planet, which is very cool:
http://www.amazon.com/Hungry-Planet-What-World-Eats/dp/1580088694

The author / photographer has a similar book called Material World, which is also fascinating...
http://www.amazon.com/Material-World-Global-Family-Portrait/dp/0871564300

[BMC]

Mexico with all the produce, Italy with the fresh bread, Japan with the fresh fish.... with all our abundance and importation of fresh produce, the US families showed very little fresh foods.

Then there was the family (forgotten which) with all the soda lined up.

Cool site. Thanks

[Tonia]

Very neat! Thanks for sharing - I'm working out our geography "Countries and Cultures" plan for next year and this will work great with that! Thank you!

[Margaret in CO]

I have to wonder how they picked those families... Our pile would look very different than the other American families.

[mcconnellboys]

Thank you for this! Our library used to have a book similar to this, but it was older and so most other countries still didn't have as much packaged and processed food as I see they now have. This is great! I wish there were even more samples to view,

Regena

[abbeyej]

I have to wonder how they picked those families... Our pile would look very different than the other American families.

I'm sure!

I'm half tempted to go take a photo of all the groceries I just brought home for the week... :)

*But* I imagine it's a challenge in any country as it becomes less "traditional" and more diversified to find a "representative" family grocery plan -- the US just has a head-start on that.

Okay, just for contrast, I pulled out my receipt:

milk - 1 gallon hormone free 1%
strawberries - 2lbs
brown rice pasta - 1lb
salsa - 2 jars
brown basmati rice - 1lb
black beans, organic
cannellini beans, organic
gluten free brownie mix
yogurt - plain, organic
broccoli - 2lbs
cauliflower - 1 head
roma tomatoes - 2lbs
blueberries - 11oz
broccoli slaw, 1lb
leaf lettuces, variety - 6 heads
clementines, 4lbs
cheese, shredded Mexican blend - 1lb
butter, 1lb
brown rice bread, 2 loaves
whole wheat bagels, 1 bag
sunflower butter, 1 jar
limes, 6
red onions, 10

[Michelle T]

Fascinating...but why is the British family eating a mayonnaise sandwich? Gack!!

Ria

My absolute favorite sandwich as a child was mayonnaise on white bread. Took it to school as my lunch every day!
Michelle T

[Michelle T]

It's by the same people who did Material World. I got Hungry Planet out of our library, and DS, DH and I had a great evening sitting at our kitchen table looking through it. Very interesting.
Michelle T

[6packofun]

Hungry Planet looks like a great book for our kids (and dh) to see. :)

[OnTheBrink]

Some of these families spend more on food for a week than I do for a month! All that soda! I buy maybe 4 bottles a month.

I think it would be fun to post what we buy for a week, and include a picture if we can.

[Mamagistra]

I thought of having a blog call, trying to get folks to do something similar (put all your shopping for one week out on the table), but I didn't figure it would go over well, lol.

That would be great fun! Isn't Laura in China doing Foodie Friday? Maybe you two should plot. Maybe I'd actually blog! ;)

[Faith]

I'm sure!

I'm half tempted to go take a photo of all the groceries I just brought home for the week... :)

*But* I imagine it's a challenge in any country as it becomes less "traditional" and more diversified to find a "representative" family grocery plan -- the US just has a head-start on that.

Okay, just for contrast, I pulled out my receipt:

milk - 1 gallon hormone free 1%
strawberries - 2lbs
brown rice pasta - 1lb
salsa - 2 jars
brown basmati rice - 1lb
black beans, organic
cannellini beans, organic
gluten free brownie mix
yogurt - plain, organic
broccoli - 2lbs
cauliflower - 1 head
roma tomatoes - 2lbs
blueberries - 11oz
broccoli slaw, 1lb
leaf lettuces, variety - 6 heads
clementines, 4lbs
cheese, shredded Mexican blend - 1lb
butter, 1lb
brown rice bread, 2 loaves
whole wheat bagels, 1 bag
sunflower butter, 1 jar
limes, 6
red onions, 10

Your list looks nice and healthy. We eat similiar here also. I was shocked at all the take out that one family had, well not really shocked but it was just so different than how we eat. Whole grains, lots of fruits and veg, skim milk, low fat cheeses, lean meats, stuff like that here. We do spend alot though but that's because we have lots of expensive healthy foods. They are NOT cheap at all.

I'm going to see if my library has that book too. That would be interesting.

[mcconnellboys]

Oh, thank you! I'll look for it again, but I think they got rid of it, sadly.....

Regena

[Laura Corin]

Fascinating...but why is the British family eating a mayonnaise sandwich? Gack!!

Ria

The problem in Britain is usually butter on everything, rather than mayonnaise on everything. If you buy, for example, a prawn mayonnaise sandwich, it will have buttered bread with prawn mayonnaise on it. That's too much goo, even for me (and I love both mayonnaise and butter).

Laura

[abbeyej]

The problem in Britain is usually butter on everything...

This reminds me of dh and my amusement at the French finally embracing the sandwich... So you could finally buy sandwiches at little stands on the street. Lovely baguettes. And butter. In fact, you could get a "sandwich beurre". Or "sandwich beurre gruyere". "Sandwich beurre jambon." And as dh and I liked to joke, "sandwich beurre gruyere beurre beurre", "sandwich beurre jambon beurre"...

Hm... The sandwich beurre is heavenly. ;) Not so the American mayo-on-white-bread nastiness (shudder).

[Janet in WA]

The problem in Britain is usually butter on everything, rather than mayonnaise on everything. If you buy, for example, a prawn mayonnaise sandwich, it will have buttered bread with prawn mayonnaise on it. That's too much goo, even for me (and I love both mayonnaise and butter).

LauraMy mil butters (or more precisely *margarines*) the bread before adding mayo or mustard to a sandwich. Gag.

[Karen sn]

mmIsn't that amazing?

[Amy in Orlando]

My mil butters (or more precisely *margarines*) the bread before adding mayo or mustard to a sandwich. Gag.

LOL - this was absolutely fascinating. I"m tempted to try to do the same with what we eat in a week. Definite eye opener.

My favorite thing as a teenage was to stop at "Ralph's" before school and get a bagel with cream cheese and a TAB (I'm old). I could never figure out why those bagels were so delicious. Finally, an old friend told me the secret. After they toasted the bagels, they smeared them with a ton of butter and then added the cream cheese. I'm drooling as I type. Good thing I was drinking that TAB to soak up the extra fat and caloires. :p

[Jill, OK]

...would I love it if you would actually blog...I'd love to see your food for a week!

It'd be good, I know that. ;-)

[Jenny in Atl]

We pretty much have always eating a "whole foods" diet; it was how my mom brought us up. My favorite reaction is from the kids at the local store looking at what I get as they check me out. I mainly shop at WF but when I do run up to Krogers, I always get question like, "What is that and is it any good?" The kid is holding-up some tofu or a lesser known root veggie. I do see more natural choices at our local chain stores but rarely do I see any of those choices in anyone's buggy. It's chips, Coke, frozen dinners, yuck!

[Einen]

Wow! The first American family's weekly food budget makes me feel much better about how much I shell out at WF each week.

[mysticamethyst]

Fascinating...but why is the British family eating a mayonnaise sandwich? Gack!!

Ria


This totally cracked me up; my youngest son will eat this, and it totally grosses me out. Sometimes he will put dill pickles on and call it his pickle sandwhich...ewww.:p I loved seeing what different countries keep on their shelves and the cost. I think I am nuts for spending $200 a week on food and would love to get it down but I am not good with finding new things.

[Audrey]

Looking at what the family from Chad gets for a whole week leaves me too embarrassed to post what we buy for a week of groceries. :(

[Heather in the Kootenays]

I was stunned by the amount of processed food and soda in those photos. I'm off to see if the library has the book.