What the world eats

Did you know Bill Gates write an annual letter?  I didn't until yesterday when this year's letter was published.  The first section of it discusses agriculture, particularly in poorer countries.  The fact the average American household only spends 6% of its annual expenditures on food compared to 30% and higher in poorer countries has stuck with me.  

So I did a bit of research and found pictures from the book Hungry Planet: What the world eats.  They are pretty amazing

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week: $341.98

Do these food look familier to your fridge/pantry?

Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03

Look at that huge sack of rice (?) just for one week! I don't know what a lot of the vegetables are, but think it's interesting that this family of 13 has only two bananas and a pile of ginger.  Had you heard of a ngultrum before?

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23

The favorite food of this family is soup with fresh sheep meat, which sounds pretty tasty to me. I'm awfully curious what are in all the small sacks.  I guess I need to read the actual book.  Notice all the water jugs behind the family.  Imagine lugging those around and running water seems like such a blessing.

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55

I love this family because of all the smiles!  I wonder what the tan circle thing is on the left and what the grain is with the carrots.  The three pots on over an open fire makes the gadgetry we have in our kitchen seem fussy.

I didn't include and pictures from European countries because it was what you might expect: lots of delicious looking bread from Italy and buiscuts from Britain. 

Tomorrow is food shopping day for us so I am going to start documenting what we eat from Saturday to Friday and see how it compares to these families.