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Ever wondered how you rank with the rest of the world in the amount of money you spend on food in a week? I got this email and it has some great pictures along with the amount of cash each family spends in feeding themselves for a week all around the world.
Guess how much money refugees from Darfur spend in a week at Briedjing Camp for food?
Scroll down to find out.
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Živio! Halo! Hallo! Bonjour! Ciao! - To everyone from around the world visiting this post. Please take a minute to tweet this post on Twitter, "like it" on StumbleUpon, share it on Facebook or just forward it to your family and friends. Thank you!
1. Germany - $500 a week for food
2. North Carolina, USA - $341.98 a week for food
3. Japan - $317.25 a week for food
4. Italy - $260 a week for food
5. Great Britain - $253 a week for food - I wonder if the dog on the table is part of the diet?!?
6. Kuwait - $221.45 a week for food
7. Mexico - $189.09 a week for food
8. California, USA - $160 a week for food - Apparently it’s cheaper to eat on the West Coast of the U.S.A than the East Coast. See North Carolina above.
9. Beijing, China - $155.06 a week for food
10. Poland - $151 a week for food
11. Egypt - $68.53 a week for food
12. Mongolia - $40 a week for food
13. Ecuador - $31.55 a week for food
14. Bhutan - $5 a week for food
15. Breidjing Camp - $1.23 a week for food!!! {Sudanese refugees in Chad}
You can also view the photoset here on Flickr.
From the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio www.menzelphoto.com.
*Disclaimer: I am not the owner of these photographs, I simply got them in a forwarded email. No names or origin of photos was attached to the email. Peter Menzel has contacted me personally right after I published this post and I have given proper attribution above as requested by him.
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THATS SO COOL TO SEE HOW MUCH FOOD YOU CAN GET IN A WEEK FOR THAT AMOUNT OF MONEY. ITS ALSO COOL TO SEE ALL THE TYPES OF FOOD IN ALL THE DIFFRENT PLACES. I REALLY LIKE SEEING ALL THE TYPES OF FOOD AND ALL THE DIFFRENT PLACES I WISH I COULD GO VIST ALL OF THOSE PLACES.I JUST WANT TO SAY ITS REALLY AMAZING TO SEE ALL THAT.
This is very interesting and I like it a lot, but where ever you got it from could have been more accurate. All the families have kids of different ages and the number of people in each family differ. But still great
Heh, Interesting stuff, most people would balk at what another culture eats, and vice versa :p
I think food is important, which is why I regularly donate money to the UN to provide food aid.
Great pictures and good information. Thanks.
http://www.reversefunnelmentoring.com
this is amazing!!! i’m from germany and i don’t spend 500$ a week for food
greetz jo
I’m from England and I spent only $100 a week for food
though i was at first saddened to see such blatant disrespect for the people who worked hard to put that book together, i honestly can’t buy such a book (my dollars have to stretch), and it was fascinating to see how different all these families are in this regard.
the thing that strikes me most is that in the american families, each has one or two vegetables. a week. it’s not enough, guys!
That amazes me how much everyone eats in a given week. A lot of food circulates all round the world. If there is one one thing I enjoy and love it’s food. I love my wife too.
Speaking of stereotypes, why is it only families? I guess a lot of people think it’s not important what you eat if you don’t breed….
Thanks, we are putting together a kids mission awareness kit and those pictures tell a lot more than any words could. Could we use them in our kit? If not we will direct people to this site. Thanks
I beleive that some of the fotos show what peple actually spend on food in some parts of the world. Some of the views may be a bit skewed, seeing as how not most Mexicans can afford to spend close to $200.00 on groceries a week. They however live in Cuernavaca, so maybe it is their vacation home as most people that live near the Capital, in which case it is beleivable. My Asian friend however says B.S, B.S, B.S, she says the Bei Jing one is overly exagerated! Oh well, I loved the photos though, Good Job!
I love to know more about what people and kids around the world eat and i think this book will be of great help (what do you say?)
I always like to know about the day to day food habits of people of various countries do you think this book will be of help.
To the Celtic lady vis.
quote
CelticLady
October 27th, 2007 at 8:02 am
Just FYI, frozen veggies usually are more nutritious and have just as much flavor, if not more, than fresh, so they’re better for you anyway. They’re frozen at the peak of freshness, right when they’re picked,
end quote
Parroting television advertising shows how television has influenced consumers.
I agree with many people that the total number of family members will change, the cost per person is a better indicator.
Overall the pictures show the American lean to fast food and prepackaged plus softdrinks.
The English love their sugar, notice the sugar based cereal at the rear right.
As for the Chinese picture the snapshot is false.
quote
In rural areas, where nearly 80 percent of China’s people live, the food and nutrition problems are primarily related to inadequacies rooted in poverty. According to the 1989 household budget survey, 42 percent of rural households had yearly per caput incomes below 500 yuan (US$95) and 5 percent of the household incomes were below 200 yuan (US$38) (Xian, 1989)
end quote
details here
http://www.fao.org/docrep/U5900t/u5900t0a.htm
The photo montage is interesting but inaccurate.
hey I got these pictures in an email too! except the email I got had less pictures, so this was really interesting.
Jeff: I think that Celtic lady was perhaps using marketing speak, but it is true that frozen vegetables can have the same or even better nutrient content.
http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=105360&catId=100286&tid=100008&p=1&title=Fresh+fruit+and+veg
Wow man, that’s a BIG diff between to diff countries, i dont even wanna live in Germany they eat so much it’s disgusting!!! I feel so bad for people in Breidjing Camp
I am from the USA and I spend $120 pr. week on Groceries there are many people here wow live on much less with much less junk food. I would like to see a comparison of people from all economic classes. Interesting to note the differences never the less. Where is this from?
Wow. Imagine on $12 a week!
some people dont even hardly have a home thats sad
the first people have a LOT OF FOOD 
sweet 
STERIOTYPES
Fascinating look at what a family eats.
TK Kenyon
The most interesting thing one can learn from these pictures is that it puts the lie to the whole argument that terrorism in the Islamic world is because of poverty. The Muslim countries here, (except for the Sudanese, who are themselves being persecuted by Arab Islamist Janjaweed genocidaires) are mostly in the middle and Kuwait is the only country here where the family have servants. It turns out that having Servants, like Bin Laden did as a child, is what truly breeds terrorism. People that work for a living and don’t live on the backs of others also don’t like to murder civilians.
It is interesting that the Europeans are so unhappy. Also the picture of the Italians is statistically incorrect, Italy is a shrinking country demographically and therefore having three kids is an outlier. They should have only 1.5 children in the picture. Also because Europe is now approaching 25% foreign born or descendants of immigrants it seems stereotypical to choose ‘white’ Europeans for the pictures in Germany and Italy and G.B, it would have been more honest had the German picture been a Turkish family or the GB picture been Pakistanis or the italian one been Roma or Albanians.
Wow Seth, so if people have a maid helping out with home duties, and if they are Muslim, they are all terrorists!
What happens if they are Christian, or atheist? Are they still terrorists? Who says the Kuwaiti family is not working for a living, in fact I do not know of any single human being that doesn’t work for a living? Corporations are the ones that live off the “back of the people”, especially those well taken care of CEO’s {who always get their million dollar bonuses and stock options}.
People like you are what’s truly wrong with the world, not people with maids/servants.
The world is shrinking, get used to it. Or get on the first space ship to Mars.
Erm, yes very interesting-however, i live in the U.K, and can i just mention that as far as i am aware our national dish is NOT canine stew and kitten dumplings, dog broth, pooch pudding or any other sick dish-i resent u making that comment-it’s supposed to be an objective study of average families-THAT COMMENT IS NOT OBJECTIVE! YOU ARE SICK SICK SICK SICK SICK!
I’ve seen these pics before, and BTW this is not the complete series….I don’t agree with many of the comments under the photos. BTW is that water on the pic from the refugee camp??? I hope thats oil or smth and they get water on a regular basis. I agree with those who argue about the german family, 500$ is a lot! Unless you eat expensive seafood or imported delicacies from Italy or France or consume only BIO (organic) products you could live on half of that sum. I live in the Cezch Republic and prices here are maybe 20% less than in Germany, we are only a household of two+a dog and we rarely, if not never, spend more than 100$ a week for food. And that makes quiet a balanced diet wtih lots of fruits and vegs and dairies and meat and fish etc. I really cant imagine how a family of 4 could spend 500$ a week, even with all the pictured alcohol, which is really not expensive in Germany. You can buy a decent wine for 5euros. And not to forget, you really do have a choice in Europe. There are expensive and cheap supermarkets to choose from and produce markets. Here in Prague there is a regular market where everything is fresh and local, and costs a fraction of the supermarket price. Its really about how lazy you are! Laziness also makes people buy fast food, frozen pizzas etc. And when kids grow up eating that, they end up feeding their kids the same crap. Unfortunately in many countries people even forget how to cook. I have a british friend who hasn’t touched raw meat or fish until the age of 23! Not because she was disgusted by it, but because there was never any in the fridge.
I always wondered why people from the US often buy soft drinks in small bottles for their home fridges? Isn’t that a waste of money and plastic? Its alright to buy a small bottle of water if you’re out somewhere. But at home?? It’s the same with drinks in cans. They are far more expensive than big bottles.
Jerri Ann said under $300, then said $350. That’s a discrepancy. Jerri Ann also did not use “behooves” correctly. What a tard. If you bothered to read this far, you probably have too much time on your hands. You should be using StumbleUpon to find other fun and interesting websites.
I’m not surprised about NC. I live in NC and grocery is soooo expensive! I also used to work at a grocery store so most people would spend around $100-$400 per visit. I saw it’s only $160 in Cali but it’s a double whammy cause gas is even higher there than here. Here it’s around $3.89 or something and there it’s like $4.60.
check out my blog at
http://www.obamafoyomama.blogspot.com
Geez, look at how much food you can get for 5$ in Bhutan! They look pretty healthy too. I guess you can stretch a buck better in somme places than others. Great blog. Stumbled.
What makes you feel really bad is when you get to the bottom and yoyu just shoved a fish stick in your mouth so you could get to Mc D’s in time to get an iced coffee before work.
Menzel’s never contacted you? We got the proverbial cease and desist when we tried to post all the photos. We cranked it back to three and claimed fair use.
@Todd – He did, all he asked for was attribution in the post. Which I obliged, as you can see right on top.
The facts about Germany are absolutely untrue. We are two adults, two teenagers. We get about 3200$ per month. My father is worker, so an average family gets app. 4000-4500$ per month.
2000$ per month only for food is ridiculous. My mother gets 80$ per week, my father does the bigger shopping, so we spend barely 200$ per week. This including other things than food.
Alcohol? Never 30 bottles of beer. My father (and he isn’t so aversed to it) drinks maximum 10 bottles a week. Plus 2-3 bottles of wine. I don’t know any family which spends and drinks so much as the shown.
No, food in California is not cheeper than the East coast. The fact is that it is more expensive but Californians tend to more fresh (cheeper) produce in the bulk of their diet. Eating healther is apparently cheeper too.
ExMidwestener currently living in California.
emm, my husband when he was single and only spent $70.00 or 50 euro a week on food when he was in Germany.
Respect to Peter Menzel for accepting a simple attribution as payment for republishing his article. That’s the sign of a journalist whose motivation is reporting the news, not getting paid.
Amazin
Ewwiee! That’s gross how much junk food those people from the U.S have.. They’re gonna die soon and they’re gonna be fat and have bad acne
Great posting. In Kansas city they just had a free showing of what people eat around the world and what they pay. It is neat to see other pictures.
Let’s not start throwing racial slurs around and stick to the issues here…we all eat too much in the first world. We no longer have any idea about portion control. We do not (for the most part) cook every meal from scratch. Most people do not know how to bake bread. I don’t know anyone who can make their own butter/cheese (yes, I know there are people out there but I don’t personally know them). We are reliant on the supermarkets. We eat what we can afford…some of us can afford more than others. Change the circumstances of the poorest and they will adjust their desires accordingly: chocolate, pizza, Chinese takeout, beer/wine, sugary cereal….
Second thing I would like to point out is that although I live in the USA I was born in the UK. We rarely ate dessert, had only 1/4 lb sweets a week (between five kids) and got soda once a month (1 large bottle between 7.)Back in the late 80′s when I moved here I couldn’t eat the food at first…everything was so damn sweet and things you wouldn’t expect: bread, baked beans, “adult” cereals etc, etc. When my relatives vist they always comment on 1) the size of the portions 2) how sweet everything is.
P.S. I caught a BBC special about how fat the kids in the UK are becoming. It made me very sad. Seems the UK has embraced McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut etc, etc. But as suggested by the visiting relatives they still have less “hidden” sugar in the food over there.
Thank’s for the posting,i appreciate the effort and information you brought to us; i believe that the displays #13 and #14 from Ecuador and Bhutan are the best foods to keep any human beeings happy and healthy…rice,beans,fruits and vegetables…and a little bit of meat and lots of spices,mainly to enhance the tastes;those are the best products for the human body,his alertness and longevity.Most of the other “food products” we see are mainly “indulge” items and consciously the money used to buy them should be used with the populations that cannot get the basic.But it takes love to do that…and this does not seem to be on the menu.
This is very very interesting. Although for the East coast and the west coast families in the USA, you must consider the age of the children in the family. Well, I guess that should apply for most of the families. – That’s what I thought until I saw the families with more than 5 member. Their country have a way less inexpensive cost of living.
I’ll be blogging about this BTW.
hahaha in indonesia we always eat rice, and some body have a flat stomach because they working
I spend around 100.00 US dollars on food in Arkansas USA. That feeds two people and 3 pet house cats.
What about the poor in this country ? I get $650. in S.S.I D. And $125.00 in food stamps A month.We go without a lot. Here in Maine apound of Hamburg $1.89 Pork chops $2.69,Chicken legs $0.99.cheap cereal $1.79 bx. Milk $ 4.00+, I honestly go day’s without eating. I try not to think about food,because I cannot afford it.I can’t supplement it with my check ,Cause rent is $450.00, Lights 59.00. Then co-pay on my meds, Bus cost to get grocery’s or go to Dr. I have nothing left.I am not on S.S.I.D. because I like it. But I hurt my back 5 years ago. and the Dr messed it up worse when he operated on it. I still tried to work after. But It just took it’s toll on me. I would rather work. So, Food cost’s are different for every person in the world. 1 person from each country don’t prove anything. Big cities have better food deals in maine.1-8 people per house hold. Someone is allergic to foods, Or they are on a diet because of their health.Their is to many variables to go through.
People, just buy more produce. Even if it might be more expensive, it’s definitely healthier and your appetite for junk will shrink. Notice how little fresh produce they use in the US (and how much obesity there is). In North Carolina they eat NOTHING fresh!!!
I stumbled upon this website. I liked seeing what different people ate. I support charities that distribute food to the poor both locally and abroad. When I was a graduate student, I often lived on about 20 dollars a week for food. Mostly rice, beans and vegetables. Now, it is not unusual for me to drop 200 dollars for a restaurant bill and though we have a family of four, the usual grocery bill for the week is 125 dollars and that does not include the 125 more in restaurants, lunches for the kids at school, etc. So I guess we top out at 1200 a month. By the way, I can’t help but notice the incredible irony about the ad for the secret diet discovered by a mom who lost 44 lbs in 3 months right below this.
$100-150/week
1 Adult 2 kids
NJ, USA