Book Reveals What the World Eats

What's on the World's Dinner Table?

Hungry Planet - What the World Eats, by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio
Published by Material World Books, 2005, 287 pp.

Hungry Planet Photo Credit: Amazon.com

Coming off the success of 2000's Material World, a photojournalistic documentation of the disparity in global material wealth, author-photographer Peter Menzel offers an equally ambitious follow-up. Traveling with wife and author-journalist Faith D'Aluisio, the pair traversed the globe to catalogue the diverse eating habits and the wild differences in weekly food expenditures around the world. They visited the homes of thirty families in twenty-four countries where they shopped, farmed, hunted, cooked and ate.

The authors' purpose was to document the "tipping of the global food scale." While it is agreed that globalization is making the world smaller, its effects on eating habits are pulling in all directions. Over consumption and malnutrition are the two extremes, and globalization is having some effect on feeding (and starving) both ends. People continue to experience widespread scarcity, even in the same countries where obesity is becoming a problem. This duality intrigued the authors and prompted their global culinary adventure.

Even in this context of feasts and famine, the world still produces enough food to supply everyone on it, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Yet even in this context of feasts and famine, the world still produces enough food to supply everyone on it, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The principal problems are lack of land to grow, and lack of money to buy food, two conditions that are dramatically illustrated throughout the book. Given this troubling inequality of food distribution, the book is a testament to the winners and losers of the global food supply chain, and perhaps offers insight into whether the future will bring a more level playing field or more hunger.

Menzel and D'Aluisio have produced an inviting book filled with colorful photos, country and family profiles, recipes and a unique perspective on what the world is eating. This creative undertaking was rewarded the 2006 James Beard Foundation Cookbook of the Year award.

D'Aluisio's plethora of profiles details the family structure, eating habits and activities that comprise daily life. An aboriginal family relocated to suburban Brisbane, Australia, for example, struggles to make ends meet on meager government subsidies. Since the family moved 12 years ago they have struggled with health issues related to dietary changes. All three adults in the household have diabetes and are overweight. The grandparents, despite the passage of time, continue to be overwhelmed by the myriad choices present in the supermarkets. In the outback, their food choices were limited to the products that arrived via mail truck and the abundant meat they hunted outside their back door. Meanwhile, the grandchildren clamor for the fast food and sweets they have known all their lives. In a simple and clear way the reader is transported to the family table, experiencing the ways in which the globalization of food has shaped the lives of many.

A recipe for pigskin jelly demonstrates that nothing goes to waste in China; and this is probably one of the few books to include how to best cook Greenlandic seal meat.

Menzel's photography brings the global culinary experience to life on so many levels. Each chapter opens with a photograph of an entire week's worth of groceries on display. The reader is able to jump across continents by flipping the pages and compare shopping lists with the global neighborhood. Other images illustrate how families obtain their food - ration cards, hunting, farming, open-air markets, supermarkets - and how eating fits into their daily lives. Interspersed with the family profiles, Menzel also includes photo essays organized around a common theme, such as kitchens and fast food, offering context outside the family borders.

The recipes highlighted in the book enhance understanding of cultural, geographic and other regional differences. Many ingredients are unique to a certain area, climate and culture. In a Sudanese refugee camp in Chad, for example, scarce rations are combined to concoct a stew of goat meat and vegetables, enhanced with a side of porridge obtained from international aid organizations as emergency provisions. A recipe for pigskin jelly demonstrates that nothing goes to waste in China; and this is probably one of the few books to include how to best cook Greenlandic seal meat.

Throughout the book, the profiles and recipes are complemented by essays from expert contributors addressing issues like the global epidemics of diabetes and obesity, the ethics behind eating seafood and meat, and the universal appeal of street food.

Whether they are in Cuba or Kuwait, D'Aluisio and Menzel objectively present their subjects and their eating habits in a simple fashion, leaving judgment to the reader. Political alignment is notably absent, resulting in stories about people and food to which all eaters can relate.

Yet the authors do not shy away from global food issues like malnutrition. Defined as a deficiency or excess of nutrients and other dietary elements, they reveal that record numbers of people are facing this problem due to scarcity or, more frequently, overabundance.

Societies have long dealt with food scarcities owed to drought, wars and other causes still present today, but overabundance is a relatively new phenomenon in many parts of the world.

Societies have long dealt with food scarcities owed to drought, wars and other causes still present today, but overabundance is a relatively new phenomenon in many parts of the world. One of the book's expert contributors, Francine R. Kaufman, M.D., explains that there is a global, unhealthy dietary trend of eating processed foods resulting in increased incidents of diabetes and obesity. Traditional diets low in processed sugars and dietary fats now include more and more simple carbohydrates and saturated and trans fats.

The authors generally attribute this shift in dietary preference to rising affluence, as well as migration and the intersection of markets. The authors show this in part by including the number of McDonalds restaurants in the country statistics. This relates to the paradox that convenience food correlates positively with development indicators on the Human Development Report Index, but also with high rates of obesity and daily caloric intake.

The United States has a considerable presence in the global diet, and from the looks of it, is represented by junk food. American products, such as Ritz crackers, Pringles potato chips, Heinz ketchup and M&Ms chocolate candies, are seen on the table in all corners of the globe. The authors observe family members taking trips to "Mackas" (McDonald's) in Australia, Kentucky Fried Chicken in China and Wendy's in Japan, usually at the behest of the children. In Mexico, the prevalence of products like Coca-Cola and processed foods has led to high numbers of obese and overweight adults. According to World Health Organization statistics from 2005 that were included in the book, the obesity rate was 65 percent, only 5 percent less than the equivalent population in the United States.

Global tables may not be set the same in every country, but as our world flattens, we continue with the struggles of excess and scarcity. D'Aluisio and Menzel thoughtfully present this dynamic, leaving the reader with a lot to digest (figuratively, of course). While reading Hungry Planet may not have the same effect as the experiences that brought it to life, it is powerful and should inspire readers to look closely at their own tables.

To learn more about nutrition and food security, see Global Envision's Food Security resource page.

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