I Love Great Food

Who eats more food?

Disclaimer: The family photos used in this article are for illustrative purposes only, representing different nations and are not meant to offend the family or their members shown.

By Jacob David

In another public gaffe by U.S president, George Bush on May 2, 2008, he cited the following:

Another error in judgement? Eh, Mr. President?

“In other words, the more prosperous the world is, the more opportunity there is. It also, however, increases demand. So, for example, just as an interesting thought for you, there are 350 million people in India who are classified as middle class. That's bigger than America. Their middle class is larger than our entire population. And when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food. And so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up.”

GERMANY: The Melander family of Bargteheide - 2 adults, 2 teenagers
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07

With not much evidence to back up what he said, he did not take into account the per capita consumption (per person). The type of demand that consumerism places on the market in different regions of the world’s food market, depends on the availability of products and services, but it is evident that most of the demand for food upon the world is placed by the Western world.

UNITED STATES: The Revis family of North Carolina - 2 adults, 2 teenagers. Food expenditure for one week: $341.98

Blaming the Indian population squarely like the much absent Weapons of Mass Destruction, is another piece of news that was not validated by his staff or researchers. President Bush Jr., must think about the repercussions that such statements will have in International circles. Blaming one nation for the world’s malady of short food supply is not the wisest of things to do. Yet his words are now uttered, and he cannot do much about it.

JAPAN: The Ukita family of Kodaira City - 2 adults, 2 teenagers
Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25

The US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice made a similar statement to President George Bush’s statement, “We obviously have to look at places where production seems to be declining and declining to the point that people are actually putting export caps on the amount of food. Now, some of that is not so much declining production as apparently improvement in the diets of people, for instance, in China and India, and that pressure to keep food inside the country. So, that’s another element that we have to look at.”

ITALY: The Manzo family of Sicily - 2 adults, 3 kids
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11

What the US Secretary of State and the President George Bush can do is study the actual global situation at hand. People from different cultures around the world place demands on food based on the following:

Staple diet
Drinking habits – water, sodas, fruit juice, milk.
Affordability (purchasing power to demand products and services)
Major food groups and categories
Wastage per family per meal
Food Spoilage per family per week
Energy Used to cook / store / transport food per family per week
Regular Food Shopping habits per family per week
Influence of Food Commercials that Influence Buying
Food availability (Purchase is made based on brand availability)

MEXICO: The Casales family of Cuernavaca - 2 adults, 3 kids
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189

Ten families around the world were studied based on these above criteria. Most third world countries have a staple diet of rice, lentils and vegetables. In the Western world, there is no Staple diet as the food availability varies from just multiple brands stored on shelves to various cuisines available in metropolitan cities that serve different types of food. Variety in food is encouraged and people have numerous choices from Pizza, Pasta, Meats, Poultry, Seafood and other variety combinations.

In relation to drinking habits, the world consumers vary from drinking water in the third world countries compared to the availability of sodas, fruit juice, milk, wine and other fad diet drinks and shakes available.

POLAND: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna - 4 adults, 1 teenager. Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27

Affordability is directly related to the per capita income / per family made. The Western world is more relaxed when it comes to spending or purchasing food. Food consumption is seen more as a comfort factor than just eating to survive as the third world perceives it. Of course, there is the affluent middle class family (top 10%) among the Middle Class that dine lavishly. Most of the middle class families in India and China eat frugal meals and in some cases, parents sacrifice their meal to feed their kids. They do commit the mistake of having more children (not to get tax benefits which are not available) but to help them run the family and do the chores. Unfortunately that is a double edged sword that ultimately harms the parents for having so many children without family planning methods being implemented.

EGYPT: The Ahmed family of Cairo - 7 adults, 5 kids
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53

The major food groups and categories based on the food pyramid – grains, vegetables, meats, poultry, seafood are all purchased based on Affordability. In Indian and China most seafood is exported. Most meats and poultry are affordable only to the top 10% affluent middle class. The remaining 90% of the middle class substitute their meats, poultry and seafood with vegetables or just plain rice and lentils – the most basic food category that provides the least nutrition. This results in the most malnourished of kids and adults who end up working more than they eat. Their bodies do not get the sufficient protein, vitamins and minerals. They face near starvation days and many die due to lack of immunity to diseases in countries in the African continent.

ECUADOR: The Ayme family of Tingo - 4 adults, 5 teenagers
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55

Most middle class families in the third world countries have the daily problem of feeding more mouths than the food that is readily available. They consume every single grain that is cooked with no wastage per family per meal. In countries like India the lower class consumes the wasted food of the upper middle class families. When the food leavings are thrown into trash cans, the lower class people rummage through trash cans to feed on the leftovers because they face acute starvation conditions. They actually make sure that nothing is wasted thankful for getting a free meal in the trash can. Food purchase in the Western nations exceeds the number of members in families. Tons of food is wasted mostly in parties held frequently for sports, birthdays, anniversaries, and other fundraiser events that are unaccounted for – more food is purchased than is actually consumed. Food that is kept on the open table afterward, even for an hour sometimes ends up uneaten and is thrown,for the fear of falling sick, eating food stored at the wrong temperature.

BHUTAN: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village - 7 adults, 6 kids
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03

Food spoilage rarely occurs in third world countries as they eat freshly cooked food daily if available. About 45% of families have access to refrigerators in India and Asian countries. Other families cook near exact portions that are consumed daily. Cooked rice is stored overnight in water to avoid decay and used after draining the water away. In Western nations, food purchase is abundant that most food suffers freezer burn after a couple of weeks and is thrown away.

CHAD: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp - 3 adults, 3 kids
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23

Energy used to cook meals; store food and transport food vary among nations. In third world countries meals are cooked and eaten, some families store food those who have refrigerators. In the Western world, families drive out most days to dine at restaurants, or have meals like Pizza or Chinese food delivered to them each night. The transportation and cooking costs are not calculated per person as the resulting figures would be sky rocketing, mind boggling numbers.

Regular food shopping habits are governed by family needs and income levels. Income commands purchasing power. Most families in third world nations cultivate their crops and eat a portion of it. Middle class families in India and Asian nations shop for necessities and live on a frugal budget. The top 25% of middle class families shop for luxury items and appliances while the remaining population is unable to afford them. Western nations purchase by far the most grocery to feed a family of four or six per week. Food portions are not allocated per person, shopping for food is done by the cartful and often results in excess food purchased per person. In addition to the regular food purchased, sodas, pizzas, ice creams, candy, pastries and snacks are not accounted for.

Food commercials strongly influence buying mostly among kids and young adults all over American and Europe. Consumer reports show that the brand names advertised most on television and radio, or offering prizes and giveaways sell the most. The most advertised food brands are the most popular and hence become the most available products that consumers search for in the maze of food products that stack the shelves of grocery stores.

Let us ask ourselves these questions to set the matter at rest:

How much food do the different regions of the world actually produce?
How much food is consumed, how much is exported?
Which country eats the lion share?
Which nation in the world faces acute shortage of food?
How many children and adults in which nations are actually starving?
Which nation wastes the largest amount (in tons) of food? (spoilage included)

These are real questions that face the world’s teeming population today. How can we form better shopping habits that is responsible and avoids food wastage? Excess food can be shipped to suffering nations at subsidized prices instead of wasting food and purposeful spoilage of food due to the tight hands capitalism.

In the featured photos, you will see that the poorest family is able to afford little to nothing, (*in actual dollar values and things purchased) while with the most affluent families in rich nations it is just the opposite. You will also see that families in poor nations have purchased only vegetables and fruits, some grains without meat and poultry.