From Time magazine:
By country - a breakdown of food expenditures in a one week period:
Bhutan: A family of thirteen spends 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Chad: A family of six spends 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
China: A family of four spends 1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06
Ecuador: A family of nine spends $31.55
Egypt: A family of twelve spends 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
Germany: A family of four spends 375.39 Euros or $500.07
Great Britain: A family of four spends 155.54 British Pounds or $253.15
Italy: A family of five spends 214.36 Euros or $260.11
Japan: A family of four spends 37,699 Yen or $317.25
Kuwait: A family of eight spends 63.63 dinar or $221.45
Mexico: A family of five spends 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
Mongolia: A family of four spends 41,985.85 togrogs or $40.02
Poland: A family of five spends 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27
United States: A family of four spends $341.98
United States: A family of four spends $159.18 (a thrifty American family)
For pictures of the families and of the food purchased by the families, click on the above link. Something is very much out of balance here.
Thanks to Ann.
I don't know what bloggers around the world would do without Ann. She's a force.
I've seen this before. I like looking at the people. Some with so little and they look so happy. Seems like there's a message in there somewhere.
ReplyDeleteLindy
Forgive me, but I'm not certan what these photos and numbers are supposed to say. Family snapshots from around the globe, divorced from any economical or political background, are surely meaningless. I have eaten like a king with ordinary families in Morocco, Senegal, Gambia, Saudi Arabia (to mention a few examples) and known that my feast cost a fraction of its unhealthy equivalent in the USA (or the UK for that matter.)
ReplyDeleteRR, it simply shows what the family eats and the average cost of food for a week. You are correct in that not much context is provided. Look at the difference between the two American families. I'm assuming a family somewhere in the middle for each country, neither the very rich nor the very poor.
ReplyDeleteHere's a summary from the book Hungry Planet from which the photos are taken:
On the banks of Mali's Niger River, Soumana Natomo and his family gather for a communal dinner of millet porridge with tamarind juice. In the USA, the Ronayne-Caven family enjoys corndogs-on-a-stick with a tossed green salad. This 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 diets worldwide. In HUNGRY PLANET, the creative team behind the best-selling Material World, Women in the Material World, and MAN EATING BUGS presents a photographic study of families from around the world, revealing what people eat during the course of one week. Each family's profile includes a detailed description.
I gather it's more about what people eat than economics, but I thought the figures were interesting, too.
You're supposed to think about it not get any data from it. I think the creator of this piece -- incorrectly in your case rural rector -- assumes that we will think about the images we see and that in living with images, which convey so much more meaning than words alone, we will search out any pertinent data.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I just want to give up...
Lindy
Sometimes I think folks expect too much of me. The best thing is not to expect, because I don't really know what the hell I'm doing here myself. One day at a time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about Ann. she does have good "stuff."
ReplyDelete