Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel

In the book Hungry Planet, photographer Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio present 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 of their weekly food purchases; photographs of the family at home, at market, and in their community; and a portrait of the entire family surrounded by a week's worth of groceries.

To assemble this remarkable comparison, Menzel and D'Aluisio traveled to 24 countries and visited 30 families from Bhutan and Bosnia to Mexico and Mongolia, and recorded what they ate for a week. Menzel photographed each family in their kitchen with the week’s worth of groceries, while D’Alusio interviewed them about their food habits and family structure. Accompanying the portraits and narratives are detailed breakdowns of each family’s grocery list, more photographs of the family and home country, and statistics for each country visited.

Here is a selection of pictures from the book. Note: the book was made about 5 years ago, and the prices were of that time.

 Japan: Ukita family of Kodaira City
Expenditure on food for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25
Favorite foods: sashimi, fruit, cake, potato chips

Italy: Manzo family of Sicily

Expenditure on food for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11
Favorite foods: fish, pasta with ragu, hot dogs, frozen fish sticks

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp

Expenditure on food for one week: 685 CFA francs, or $1.23
Favorite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat

Kuwait: Al-Huggan family of Kuwait City

Expenditure on food for one week: 63.63 dinar or $221.45
Family recipe: Chicken biryani (spicy rice) with basmati rice

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina

Expenditure on food for one week: $341.98
Favorite food: spaghetti, potatoes, chicken with sesame seeds

Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca

Expenditure on food for one week: 1 862.78 Mexican pesos or $189.09
Favorite food: pizza, crab, pasta, chicken

China: The Dong family of Beijing

Expenditure on food for one week: 1 233.76 yuan, or $155.06
Favorite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce

Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna

Expenditure on food for one week: 582.48 zlotys, or $151.27
Family recipe: Pig's knuckles with carrots, celery and parsnips

Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo

Expenditure on food for one week: 387.85 Egyptian pounds, or $68.53
Family recipe: Okra and mutton

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo

Expenditure on food for one week: $31.55
Family recipe: Potato soup with cabbage

USA: The Caven family of California

Expenditure on food for one week: $159.18
Favorite food: beef stew, berry yogurt sundae, clam chowder, ice cream

Mongolia : The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar

Expenditure on food for one week: 41,985.85 togrogs or $40.02
Family recipe: Mutton dumplings

United Kingdom: The Bainton family of Cllingbourne Ducis

Expenditure on food for one week: 155.54 British Pounds or $253.15
Favorite foods: avocado, mayonnaise sandwich, prawn cocktail, chocolate fudge cake with cream

Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village

Expenditure on food for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork

Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide

Expenditure on food for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07
Favorite foods: fried potatoes with onions, bacon and herring, fried noodles with eggs and cheese, pizza, vanilla pudding