What A Week Of Groceries Looks Like Around The World

What A Week Of Groceries Looks Like Around The World

It seems as a people, we have a fascination with photographing our food. From Henry's series of riders, to looking on instagram we cant help but document what we consume. Photographer Peter Menzel started this intriguing series of one weeks of groceries from around the world, taking traditional food photography to a much larger scale. In his book Hungry Planet, Peter explores both the cultural differences of diets around the world as well investigating how prosperity and poverty influence the diets of different nations.

hungry planet food around the world

Here is the book description of Menzel's amazing project:

The age-old practice of sitting down to a family meal is undergoing unprecedented change as rising world affluence and trade, along with the spread of global food conglomerates, transform eating habits worldwide. HUNGRY PLANET profiles 30 families from around the world--including Bosnia, Chad, Egypt, Greenland, Japan, the United States, and France--and offers detailed descriptions of weekly food purchases; photographs of the families at home, at market, and in their communities; and a portrait of each family surrounded by a week's worth of groceries. Featuring photo-essays on international street food, meat markets, fast food, and cookery, this captivating chronicle offers a riveting look at what the world really eats.

what people eat around the world


Mexico
00175372
Great Britain
00175382
USA
00175392
Australia
00175402
Germany
00175412
Italy
00175422
Canada
00175432
France
00175442
Japan
00175452
China
00175462
Poland
00175472
Kuwait
00175482
Mongolia
00175492
Turkey
00175502

View the entire series Here in Menzel's Book Hungry Planet.
 

If you're passionate about taking your photography to the next level but aren't sure where to dive in, check out the Well-Rounded Photographer tutorial where you can learn eight different genres of photography in one place. If you purchase it now, or any of our other tutorials, you can save a 15% by using "ARTICLE" at checkout. 

Thomas Ingersoll's picture

Thomas Ingersoll is a internationally published photographer. He is an expert with strobes but loves to use natural light as well. Thomas has a very clean and polished look to his work. Being very well rounded with fashion, fitness, portraits, and action sports, he is always up to conquer any challenge.

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Don't forget that in most of these countries the water is safe to drink, so bottled water wouldn't necessarily be shown. I have spent a chunk of change on a whole house water filtration system because I live in the Midwest and our water is crunchy. Not just hard.. ;) I haven't bought a bottle of water in years.

I've also invested in a filtration system because I can smell the chlorine in tap water... and I live in the mountains of Northern CA. It saves me a lot of $$ over buying bottled water, we all have our own stainless BPA free water bottles that we fill from our filtered tap.... and it saves the environment from plastic bottles!

It was proven by a ama study , that the human body doesn't need that much water like they use to say, we can and will do better on less, they are not pushing drinking 8 ounces 8 times a day, you can drink too much water to mess with your bodys electrolytes and other Minearl's and vitamins

(I see others have reacted here, but I already wrote this all out so I'll post it, ha-ha!) I agree that the soda pop bottles should be replaced with water bottles. No wait! I disagree with that! They should be replaced wtih glasses of water from the tap. Tap water is safer, sometimes safer than bottled water- which is so usually incredibly over priced tap water. But still I don't care if people are stupid enough to pay thousands of times what the real price of the water is for a cup or two. But I do care about the real cost (not just price) of bottled water: Manufacture a bottle with mostly petrochemicals. And 3 liters of water to create a 1 liter bottle. "According to the plastics manufacturing industry, it takes around 3.4
megajoules of energy to make a typical one-liter plastic bottle, cap,
and packaging." (Pacifc Inst.) Fill it with tap water, a heavy item given its volume. Load it on to a truck and drive it up to half a continent away, spewing exhaust and hydrocarbons all the way. Sell it to people who are too lazy, apathetic or selfish to care. When they are done with it they typically toss it in the garbage. 1 out of 7 gets recycled (many sources on. Many get tossed in the ocean where they (with other plastics) affect fish and mammals alike with toxicity, strangulation and gut-tearing ingestion. OK - that's the end of my 'be responsible' rant.

As to the 8 x 8 oz of water myth- I don't imagine it would hurt but it's not really that clear - or close. It initially came about early in (if memory serves correctly, and it may not) the early 20th century when a medical doctor (who were virtually gods back then) calculated, not dictated, that the average human body gets about 8 glasses of water from all sources, including food and drink. More up to date research here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/8-glasses-of-water-a-day-an-urban-myth-1.1...

I have a filtration system in my house. A pricey but great investment. I save thousands over the cost of buying bottled water. Plus we don't add a bunch of plastic bottles to the oceans! We all have a stainless, BPA free water bottle we fill from the filtered tap.
That much water can't hurt, you know. the more water one drinks, the more they pee & have less constipation. This adds up to more toxins being flushed from the cells which is always a good thing.

Again, what are these toxins? Cyanide, Arsenic just what? That idea is silly and sorry if you are actually consuming some toxic chemical a Little wáter is not going to fix you.

The toxins can be anything in food - hormones, flavorings colorings, preservatives. In the air - aluminum, pesticides, cleaning & deodorizer sprays, perfumes, hair sprays. Water does flush out all the organs where these toxic compounds settle & build up - mainly the liver, kidneys & colon.

I think I would be more concerned about something passing through the skin than something coming into the stomach. Metallic and Mercury vapor can be very bad since it passes easily through the skin and is the only element that can easily pass through the cell Wall. Cyanide is another nasty one that can pass easily through the skin. Some professional killers have used Cyanide to kill their victims. They put the Cyanide in beer and then play like they are drunk and spill the beer on the victim. The Cyandie makes the appearance of a heart attack. Selenium is another nasty element if taken in too much into the body. It can occur naturally in soils. In fact, it contaminates a part of the Colorado river. Arsenic in well waters in the Midwest can be a serious problem. I also worry more about the affects of salt Sodium Chloride than many chemicals mentioned. The salt used in most homes is from mined salt and is not sea salt. The former contains way too much Sodium Chloride and no other minerals. Sea salt contains much less Sodium Chloride plus contains many various healthy minerals.

Well, you're right, I am concerned about environmental toxins & poisons, but where I live & with my lifestyle, I'm not at much risk. The article is about groceries/food/water. My point is that drinking a lot of water is healthy for keeping those vital organs I mention flushed after exposure to toxins in food & various pollutants people commonly inhale. I do use only sea salt when cooking, and I eat a mostly Organic diet with the fruits & veggies I grow in my back yard.

Sorry but that is not true. Sounds great but there is no scientific basis for that claim. Your body gets sufficient wáter from a number of sources including fruit and vegetables along with a variety of juices and sodas.

There is plenty of water from the tap. Jeeze people, think!

Our bodies just need an optimum amount of fluid; it will seek balance so too much will make you pee and too little will make you thirsty.

Who needs water when you have neon green....uh....something?

Gatorade its got electrodes in it (Y)

Good movie lol

I think you mean electrolytes ...

I like my Gatorade so much more when it's got electrodes!

"electrolytes"

It's what plants need.

plus or minus 98% chemicals

You do realize that everything in nature is a chemical, right?

Not all chemicals are organic based meaning no Carbon base. It is the difference as to whether you are living on organic chemistry or inorganic chemistry. Our bodies over 3 million years are designed for organic chemistry and not inorganic chemistry.

Drink Brawndo

Most cities in the US have drinkable tap water (if they drink water)

why would you buy bottled water when it comes out your tap. No matter they're both poisonous, tap or bottle.

You sir are retarded if you think water is poisonous.

it's not the water that is poisonous it's what is in the water from your tap and from the bottles you get at the store ... so who's retarded .. maybe their person that has no idea what's in their water

Why don't you all keep fighting about it as you derail the actual point of the article, I'm sure we all find your commentary fascinating.

Almost all water comes in bottles with plastics that don't leak (at least in Australia this is the case). That bottled water is filtered so heavily that you may as well be drinking from an Antarctic spring (some places use chemicals to filter water, but not all).

Tap water varies based on the area but you can buy filters that last anywhere from 3 months to a year depending on usage before needing to be changed which gets rid of most of the 'trace elements'.

Unless of course you are talking about water fluoridation... I personally feel like that's about as debate worthy as the anti-vaccination agenda.

If your water is filtered, then it's not like antarctir spring water at all.

Yeah, we need a device that filters out flouride! ....

So in other words unless it's 100% pure H20, with zero particulates - something that doesn't exist anywhere in nature, then it's poisonous? Amazing how life has made it this far given that 70% of our earth is covered with oceans of this "poison". Give it a break.

Water from the tap is horrible for you, its got a lot of fluoride in it which is really bad for you..... do some research, stop drinking it. :)

This is not true. Not all cities but fluoride in the tap water. And there have been studies showing that there is no difference between tap water and bottled water. Bottled water uses plastic and adds to the pollution to the world with all those little plastic bottles. So, I disagree, drink from the tap, use a filter if you need to, and use a stainless steel bottle for travel!

True I don't think Colorado Springs puts fluoride in their water.. my son left for the Academy with never having a cavity in his life. Came home for Christmas break 2 yrs after being there and had TEN cavities. Dentist said his teeth were clean .. just no fluoride in the water....

I grew up on a farm, with a well (therefore, no fluoridation), and have had very few cavities in my life. My 25 year-old son grew up drinking water from a reverse osmosis filtration system, and has never had a cavity in in his life. Fluoridation is a dangerous scam.

That's hardly evidence. Correlation does not imply causation. Now maybe if you included both you and your sons' eating habits from youth to adulthood, including information on how much you brushed your teeth, what toothpaste you used and how many times you visited the dentist each year from when your teeth came in to current times, maybe you would have a valid argument.

Well I had well water with no fluoride and did not have a cavity til I was 22 which was also my first dentist visit. This was 4 years after moving to an area with city water that contained fluoride. Now my son has always had teeth issues and I was told by his dentist it was due to having to much fluoride in the water and on top of that in his toothpaste.

again - correlation does not equal causation.

And some well water is naturally fluoridated -- where do you think they go the idea from? Children (I believe in rural Texas) who were found to have much fewer cavities were found to be drinking naturally flroridated water (because of geological formations rich in fluoride).

Says who, the dentist? The person who makes money off you eating candy like its your job? Fluoride is horrible for your teeth. Baby Boomers grew up drinking "baby water" and historically have horrendous tooth decay, cavities, and/or extensive dental reconstruction.

You speak complete garbage. Fluoride is not horrible for your teeth.

Erin: Fluoride is a combination of hexafluorosilicic acid and sodium silicofluoride!

IT IS A TOXIN! Plain and simple.

Perhaps its time for you to open your eyes and not listen to what western medicine is telling you. Your force fed "facts" are not correct. It may be your opinion, but it is not fact.

The government has quietly admitted that it is dangerous. Historically our fluoride levels pumped into our public water system is down (the standard for fluoride has been lowered from 1.2 to 0.7 milligrams per liter as of 2011, the first time since 1962!)

It has nothing to do with western medicine, and nobody is force feeding facts. And no, it's not my opinion. I do biochemical research. And no, it's not true that it was "quietly admitted that it is dangerous." (Where do you conspiracy kooks come up with this garbage?) - the level was lowered because science (you know, FACTS, the stuff that I work with) determined that the peak anti-cavity effect was 0.7 mg/L.
Anyway, I'm really bored with you "omg fluoride is evil! the corporations & government lie to you!" types, and really, the topic is WAY off topic for this whole thread, so please don't reply back. I won't bother reading it.

I'm saying historically that where the origins are. You don't have to agree with it or me, but to not even looki it up shows how lazy and biased you are. The idea of fluoridation, LIKE IT OR NOT came from original studies conducted on children who had naturally fluoridated water. It's a fact! Now begone, Dental TROLL!

Fluoride is a combination of hexafluorosilicic acid and sodium silicofluoride!

IT IS A TOXIN! Plain and simple.

Perhaps its time for you to open your eyes and not listen to what western medicine is telling you. Your force fed "facts" are not correct. It may be your opinion, but it is not fact.

The government has quietly admitted that it is dangerous. Historically our fluoride levels pumped into our public water system is down (the standard for fluoride has been lowered from 1.2 to 0.7 milligrams per liter as of 2011, the first time since 1962!)

yes there is difference between natural floruide and the toxic waste they create in industries and they call it fluoride! read the link I provided in one of the comments above.

My family grew up with a well and had cavities. Fluoridation is NOT a "dangerous scam."

We also had a rock outside that protected us from tigers. Correlation does not equal causation at all.

drinking pure water from well of course iis not gonna prevent cavities alone lol! how gullible of u to think that only by drinking unfloridated pure natural water, u will not get cavities! things are not that simple.. it is a whole lifestyle that needs to change, eating balanced whole grains and vegetables.. of course if u eat a lot of meat or fruits, or packaged ready-made bullshit u will get cavities. its not at all only about water. but it all adds up.
fluoride has ben taken out of israels tap water recently. more and more countries are waking up to the danger of this chemical. wake up and do some serious research, stop believing all u read, think for urself. companies hwo manufacture chemicals want u to consume the chemicals in everything. its their way of making profit .. u pay tax for government so they put fluoride in the water.. this makes ppl worry about tax and money issues and be more submissive to these corporations running the show. there is no government. corporations run the show.

Actually, I do "serious" biochemical research and I do think for myself, and science has concluded that no, fluoride is *not* a dangerous scam, it's not some corporate profit center, and that pretty much everything you've said is conspiracy theory garbage. You are right about the lifestyle, though. I cringe when I see people putting soda pop into a 2 year old child's cup. or feeding them french fries.

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