Time Magazine online is currently featuring a photo essay taken from the book Hungry Planet, by Peter Menzel. It is a 15–photo journey into the homes of families from around the world, posing where they eat, with all members of the family present and the food they consume in a week spread out around them like a harvest.

What struck me first is that nearly every family had either Coca-Cola or Pepsi in their inventory. This was not terribly suprising, given that Coca-Cola is one of the world’s most recognizable brands. Perhaps what suprised me the most was that a family from Germany, not the United States had the highest food cost for the week, topping out at over $500. Compare that with the family from Chad that spent $1 and some change on food for an entire week and it puts into perspective just how big the gap is between the haves and have-nots.

Another trend I noticed, which makes me feel good about my ongoing health-kick of sorts was that the cost of the family’s food was inversely proportional to the amount of processing the food they ate had been through. It makes sense if you think about it, doing stuff to food costs money ergo it is more expensive. The next time you think about picking up that can of Ragu, just think of how much cheaper (and healthier) it would be to buy whole ingredients and actually do some cooking for a change.

Links
Time Photo Essay
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