Oh man did I just get a case of the munchies.

Family recipe: Chicken biryani with basmati rice

Winner.

martissimo: That cant be all the water they are getting, it wouldn't be enough to drink, let alone cook the beans and rice or whatever it is they have in those sacks

It's a photo essay from a book published a couple of years ago. Don't overthink it.

I loves me some pig knuckles, mmm mmm mm.

MePod: This is what I learned: Pretty much everybody loves bananas

And pizza.

Its amazing to me how the American families appear to have the fewest amounts of fruits and vegetables, and the most sodas and packaged foods, of anyone in the world.

Are we that afraid of spinach and kale? Very interesting.

WhatYouSay: Are we that afraid of spinach and kale?

I never heard of anyone shiatting blood from a bag of Lays...The Olestra ones, sure! But not regular Lays...

Kidding of course, but yeah, I noticed a few things. One, American "cuisine" is proliferated a lot throughout the world. The Mexican family loved coke, the Chinese family ate KFC, etc...The American families DID have a lot of other prepackaged foods. And two, for the "developed" families, the Americans didn't spend a whole lot on food. The high calorie, low nutrition packaged food must be cheaper.

/interesting find, Smitty! Thanks!

That's nothing, did you see the amount of meat the family from Mongolia got on their grocery bill of $40 a week? (slide 12 from Ulaanbaatar).

Mutton dumplings are definitely something I'd like to try to make. I wonder if I can even get mutton at the butcher....

martissimo: hmm actually i looked again, there are a few bottled waters in there, still seems odd, i guess that must be how much used in food preparation, but it still doesnt make sense since some show no water, and objects that obviously would need some to be able to cook them

Actually, if you look just behind the family in that photo, you will see several large jugs, presumably for water for their needs.

What I found most interesting was how happy the families looked. Some of the 'poorest' families looked the happiest. Also I found the 'how much they had to pay per week' for food very interesting as well. So often I wish the cost of food and shelter wasn't such a high percentage of the money we take in. :(

Pig's knuckles with carrots, celery and parsnips

Livin large...

I love the one british family too, "Mayonnaise Sandwiches"

Gross.

I am not sure what is more sad.

The contrast of the Americans with 3 thousands gallons of Coke behind them , or the Germans with tons of Beer.

Both are painful after seeing the poor family in Africa eating dirt soup.


Any of your guys( as a family) actually drink that much coke or soda in a week? It seems like a mind numbing amount.


Guess i am not a big soda guy.............

Wow, the Aboubakar family really learned how to budget. In america you couldn't even buy the sacks that hold that shiat for that cost.

Looks like produce is cheaper in a lot of other countries too.

For the record, I think the dog in the English family's picture is a pet.

Good stuff, thanks, Submitter.

I wish I was able to eat as well as most of those people (with the exception of Chad, wow...)!

I saw North Carolina and I stopped looking after California... I can't ever afford to eat like them either... but it looked like a lot of crap compared to what the people in the other countries were eating...

WISHES I could afford to eat a decent diet of actual food consisting of actual fruits and vegetables... alas... that does not seem to be the (lower middle class) American way...

...might as well try to start eating toothpaste... its probably just as natural as the rest of what I eat.

The Germans look as happy as you would expect the Germans to look.

Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide

Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07

$500.07!!! WTF????

They got ripped!

rat_brain_flies_plane - WISHES I could afford to eat a decent diet of actual food consisting of actual fruits and vegetables... alas... that does not seem to be the (lower middle class) American way...

Can someone confirm that fruits and vegetables are prohibitively expensive in the US, or is this person just making excuses for being an Orca?

rat_brain_flies_plane I honestly believe one of the reasons america is becoming fat is because of food costs. Not so great foods are much more affordable here. I imagine in China they show a lot of produce and fish, and for the price, I don't think you could do that here.

Beyond that, with many Americans living bi weekly paycheck to bi weekly paycheck, produce doesn't keep like that.

actually i stand corrected, the American family had..grape drink and pink stuff(thank god no watermelon or Jessie jackson would be all over this)

The Mexican family was going to town on the Pop.....

The Mexican family of 4 drinks 12 1.25 Litre bottles of Coke a week. Jesus.
Also notice the packaging that foods from around the world come in. The first American family has heaps of multi coloured fast-food packets. Pizzas etc. Advertising to catch your attention it would seem.

_____________________________________________

Dogbeast 2007-06-08 04:44:40 AM
rat_brain_flies_plane - WISHES I could afford to eat a decent diet of actual food consisting of actual fruits and vegetables... alas... that does not seem to be the (lower middle class) American way...

Can someone confirm that fruits and vegetables are prohibitively expensive in the US, or is this person just making excuses for being an Orca?
_____________________________________________

Healthy food is expensive compared to everything else.

Just the other day i picked up a bag of grapes not noticing the price ended up 9 bucks..........

You know how many Ho-hos you can get for 9 bucks...a crap load......

I liked the bowler hat family from Ecuador the most myself. I wish people wore bowler hats like that more on a daily basis.

/trucker hats just don't cut it
//neither do straw hats

Simpsoid I think there is a huge difference in packaging in America compared to a lot of the world. Hell these days even more and more of our produce is packaged. shiat like this is one of the reasons is is more expensive here. I imagine in a lot of other countries (smaller, less infrastructure) your buying more direct from the grower. A market, etc. I also wonder how many of these families areound the world cut out costs by growing. Something becoming more and more rare in america. Usually here people if they even grow at all only grow one or two things anyway.

What strikes me in a lot of these photos is the sheer volume of food. With the exception of the African refugee camp picture, it almost looks like everyone's eating their own body weight in food in one week.

Someone needs to invent a more efficient way for humans to process ingested nutrients.

Great article, it was really interesting to see!

/Noticed a few stereotypes though

FLoridaDon - Healthy food is expensive compared to everything else.

Fair enough, then. It's the same here, to an extent, especially if you're picky about where your stuff is from, but not to the extent that it's impossible to eat healthy food.

Dogbeast: For the record, I think the dog in the English family's picture is a pet.

Heh.

Yeah, A+ to the submitter. That was fascinating.

A $50 case from Omaha Steaks keeps me and my fiancee in beef and chicken for like two weeks. We usually supplement that with a few pizzas and Applebee's and TGI Friday's a week.

i_am_donnie_darko: Great article, it was really interesting to see!

/Noticed a few stereotypes though

Maybe because the stereotypes are sometimes true?

Egyptian food is the best, and healthiest, I've eaten for a long period. Lots of greens, whole flour bread, little meat.

I just wish I could get pizzas like that N. Carolina family. My country sucks at pizzas.

/Okay, I just want one pizza

Dogbeast

Can someone confirm that fruits and vegetables are prohibitively expensive in the US, or is this person just making excuses for being an Orca?

OH! You caught me! I was using my famous Orca excuse!

Its easy to feed two people a good healthy vegetable and meat packed meal for about 2 dollars each feeding time.

/whale noises
//hello everyone I am an Orca!
///I am singing you whale songs!

rat_brain_flies_plane

/whale noises
//hello everyone I am an Orca!
///I am singing you whale songs!

All right, all right, I was wrong and I apologise, there's no need to be sarcastic.

Well, maybe there is...

/harpoon

I wish they had skewed this a little better, to somehow reflect some sort of VALUE for the food they're eating, instead of just the price they paid for it.

It'd be interesting to try to figure out a US Dollar amount of the food they're eating, and not just what they bought. Sure, they spent $1.63 for food for a week, but how much would a bowl of lamb stew cost in the US?

Also, thetrein those hats are ass ugly.

Shouldn't someone have posted the picture of that fat russian kid eating McDonald's claiming it's an American by now? Oh and the split picture of the french woman with the nice ass and wine basket vs. the fat American woman with nasty G-string. Hop to it farkers.

Coke allegedly has > 90% brand recognition, world-wide. Let's see:

1. Japan: check
2. Italy: check
3. Chad: well, no
4. Kuwait: no
5. US: (well duh)
6. Mexico: check
7. China: check
8. Poland: check (.. and nevar forget!)
9. Egypt: check (cleverly cached behind a pack of couscous)
10. Ecuador: no
11. US II: (double duh)
12. Mongolia: no
13. Great Britain: not one bleedin' bottle of coca-bloody-cola!?
14. Bhutan: no? no!
15. Germany: mmh. beer.

8/15. Not bad. Let's go back and ask them if they know Paris Hilton, shall we?

Looks like that German family from Bargteheide has quite a bit of alcohol in its weekly consumption -- would that push it up to $500?

Dogbeast

/harpoon

Anything but that!

Look out! I am behind you!!!


:P

I don't know where the myth of healthy food being expensive comes from, does anyone ever go shopping anymore?

10 pound bag of potatoes: $3
5 pounds of brown organic rice: $4
A head of cauliflour: $1
A head of brocolli: $1
A bundle of spinach: $1
2 pounds of carrots: $2

Thats a pretty healthy diet for at least 20 meals, for $12. Throw in spices bought in in bulk and a tub of margarine (for a buck) and you are maybe talking $.75/meal, tops. You can substitute all kinds of beans for rice for a similar price to get protein, unless you splurge for meat (fresh whole chicken = $5, over 5 meals = $1.70 full meat and veggie meal). I can't say I do it, personally, I like my conveniences, and am willing to pay for it.

nanofreak [TotalFark]

No doubt it plays a role! Aside from the lack of nutrition the cheapest foods are packed with... hell... who knows, which does not contribute to overall health either.

A lot unhealthy foods are expensive... So thats not helping the people who actually could eat well (they contribute to the overall fatness and general lack of good health also) a lot of other unhealthy foods are dirt cheap. I think people tend to notice the latter more when their budgets are extremely limited.

Husband always tries to tell me to just go pick a bunch of this or that and we'll make several things out of it through the 2 weeks, as if its just that simple... I scoff at his naiveté, then I make him go to the store with me... he's learned to pay super close attention to what he picks out. I'm fairly impressed.

I think we will see some serious problems with our food supply and what we eat in the near future.

Seems like recently I noticed corn we exported to China (or somethig) sold for a lower US Dollar value than Corn sold for here... kind of pissed me off. But enh... I'm just jealous!

/frozen vegetables FTW!
//but I always run out :'(

Okay, time to comment on a few of these:

1) Great Britain - "avocado, mayonnaise sandwich, prawn cocktail, chocolate fudge cake with cream". Mayonnaise sandwich? Hell, just skip the bread and eat it right out of the jar! Why aren't more British people like Mr. Creosote if they eat like that?

2) Did anyone see the mom in Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna (I have no idea what or where that is)? She looks pretty hot! The pig's knuckles are kinda weird, tho.

3) I would love to move in with the Dong family. No, not for that reason, Farkers. The food! ;-)

4) The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar's (wasn't this a creature in Willow?) Mutton Dumplings - Is that coming in or going out?

And DAMN do I have the munchies now!

labberdasher

LOL!

I'm no maths expert--

but 8 out of 15 isn't 90%!

:P'

The Melander family of Bargteheide... average life expectancy = 47. Mind you with the amount of alcohol they consume, they probably don't give a sh*t.

rat_brain_flies_plane - feh, rounding.

avocado, mayonnaise sandwich

I'm 97% sure there's an "and" missing there. Otherwise it's a thing peculiar to that family and that family only. Never heard of anyone eating a mayo butty.

*cups hand to ear for the "what's a butty?" question*