What the World Eats

By JULIETTE ROSSANT What would make us reconsider what we eat and how much we eat? How do we place in context the enormous importance of food to our culture and how we understand others? What the World Eats (Tricycle 2008) by Faith D'Aluisio with photographs by Peter Menzel goes a long way to address both questions. Their previous book, Hungry Planet: What the World Eats is very similar to this one, focusing on 30 families in 24 countries, and showing what they each eat in a week. The current volume is aimed at younger readers – but it's sophisticated enough to get at the same issues in depth as the adult book. The author and photographer examine 25 families in 20 countries. Each chapter starts with photograph of the family displaying all they eat in a week. Then a list of everything along with costs. They indicate what the family produces and what is purchased. The contrasts between the Mustaphas in Dar Es Salaam Village in Chad who subsist on $18.33 a week for a family of nine, with the Dongs of Beijing, China who spend $155.06 a week for a family of four is startling. Another Chinese family, the Cuis of Weitaiwu Village eat for a more modest $57.27 for six people. They still grow some of their food on a plot allotted to them by the local government, while the Beijing family eats prepared or processed food and some fast food. Each profile is powerfully illustrated with photographs of the family members, working, eating, buying food, and text that profiles their concerns and how they prepare their food. What is revealing in the family photographs are the rooms and objects that the family chooses to display: the refugee tent (Chad), the television (Japan), the painted shrine (Bhutan) and mud brick homes (Mali). This is cultural geography: obesity rates, fast food consumption, life expectancy, and literacy rates. If you own an atlas of the world that reveals mountains, rivers and oceans, you need What the World Eats to explore each country in terms of its food and the lives of its people. These are individual families and their stories, but they can't help but stand in for their countries and illustrate the sharp differences between different cultures - and their similarities. The book is a powerful argument against modern convenience foods and for eating less and choosing more fresh food. At the end of the essay on the Browns of Riverview (Australia), the rapid change in the lives of aborigines is touched on: Vanessa does feel that her children have missed out on some of the most basic experiences she remembers from her own childhood. "I had some loose tea and the kids couldn't believe it when I put the tea leaves in the water. They said, "Where's the bags?" I asked them, "Haven't you been educated in anything?" Indeed they have: they are well aware of every branded soft drink, snack, and fast food. And they want them. (p. 16) Below the text is a photo showing two of the daughters and a friend with a tray of sodas from a McDonald's. What is odd is that the text seems to suggest that Vanessa doesn't know that it is her responsibility to educate her children in real food. It seems that many families in the book have neglected that responsibility. Previous articles: [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to Super Chef