What A Week Of Groceries Looks Like Around The World

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  • notenoughspeed
    notenoughspeed Posts: 290 Member
    Holy moly! Look at all that soda in the Mexico picture. Notice the extra weight as well.
  • GamerLady
    GamerLady Posts: 359 Member
    Shocking, that's a lot of food for one week, of course there's only 3 of us here at our home. A lot of countries had a nice variety of grains/beans/meats/vegetables/fruits. Looking at the USA pic was quite sad and disgusting really.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,974 Member
    Be interested to see what they eat in Polynesia.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • berriboobear
    berriboobear Posts: 524 Member
    Interesting to see the comparisons in types of food and quantity. Of course, not all families will be the same, but thanks for posting!
  • morkiemama
    morkiemama Posts: 894 Member
    Bump to read later. :)
  • dltaylorii
    dltaylorii Posts: 132
    You all know that everyone was thinking that the pizza looked really good. :laugh:

    Bleh. I prefer my pizza to look like this:

    ginos_pizza_chicago-0953.jpg

    or this:

    vespaMAG.jpg
  • JUDDDing
    JUDDDing Posts: 1,367 Member
    on the time.com website, there is another american family:
    11.jpg
    (from: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373740,00.html)

    puts the other one in a bit more perspective.

    This doesn't look like a particularly recent photo.

    meh, could just be from the midwest...

    Uh....Nebraska girl here lol! This is not what any mid west family I've seen around here looking like.

    Maybe they meant Indiana or someplace?

    Clearly not enough meat for Nebraska.

    And that's like a year's worth of bagels.
  • Carnivor0us
    Carnivor0us Posts: 1,752 Member
    on the time.com website, there is another american family:
    11.jpg
    (from: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373740,00.html)

    puts the other one in a bit more perspective.

    This doesn't look like a particularly recent photo.

    meh, could just be from the midwest...

    Uh....Nebraska girl here lol! This is not what any mid west family I've seen around here looking like.

    Maybe they meant Indiana or someplace?

    Clearly not enough meat for Nebraska.

    And that's like a year's worth of bagels.

    It's also a 20 year old picture.
  • sweetfluffy
    sweetfluffy Posts: 24 Member
    wow ! awesome topic dear ...
  • lynn1982
    lynn1982 Posts: 1,439 Member
    I'm not defending the average American diet because I know that it is horrific, but a lot of the impact of these photos is in how things are displayed. For example, every family other than the US family has their meat on platters, while the US family's is in packages, giving it a "less healthy" appearance. They also have the potato chips propped up tall so that's the first thing you notice. And as somebody else pointed out, the bright colored packaging gives the appearance that there is more "junk" food in the picture. There are prepackaged foods in most of these photos. And just about every family other than those in Africa have some form of soda. Also, there are frozen pizzas in at least four other pictures, yet the American family is proudly displaying their delivery pizzas front and center. Is delivery worse than frozen? I don't know.

    I don't think it's the packaged fresh meat that gives the Americans an unhealthy appearance... Yes, others have processed foods in their photographs, but it's the sheer quantity of the American photograph that is shocking. I'm actually surprised by the Canadian photo - I appreciate the bagged milk and Liberte yogurt, but I would have expected it to be a bit more similar to the American photo. But again, these are just generalizations and it all depends on the individual family, socioeconomics, etc.
  • EHisCDN
    EHisCDN Posts: 480 Member
    I saw this at a BodyWorlds exhibit about a year ago, although the Canadian picture was different. This picture seems more realistic. The picture they had I don't think was a true image of the average Canadian's diet.

    What did the Canadian pic at BodyWorld look like?

    I tried to find the picture and couldn't. Basically they didn't have any prepackaged stuff, or very little of it at all. I remember the description underneath reading that the Canadian family lived in a self-built straw bale home if that gives you an idea. Probably not the average Canadian family.

    I did find this - they list the prices each family paid.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2319825/The-great-global-food-gap-Families-world-photographed-weekly-shopping-reveal-cost-ranges-3-20-320.html

    A self-built straw ball home? Doesn't the average Canadian live in an igloo :P In all seriousness that is not your typical Canadian lifestyle.

    I checked out the link. The Canadian family is from Iqaluit. So their food costs are probably significantly higher than the rest of Canada. It's also funny how the "bad" stuff is hidden further away on the counter behind them.
  • lynn1982
    lynn1982 Posts: 1,439 Member
    I see corn flakes seem to be a staple in most homes. Oh and Coke.

    Exactly!
  • MzManiak
    MzManiak Posts: 1,361 Member
    Anyone stop and think there is a reason Americans tend to choose pre-packaged, processed foods OTHER than they simply do not know any better? Maybe it's the cost of living here. Maybe it's because of the rate of single parent households. Maybe it's the fact that even as a 2 parent household... both parents still maintain 1-2 full time jobs. Canadians have a baby and take the whole year off. Americans have a baby and (speaking from experience) may have to be back at work the very next WEEK! If we were more like other countries in that regard, perhaps we would make the same food choices and be able to prepare more meals from home. Just a thought. It's not always from laziness and over-indulgence.
  • Carnivor0us
    Carnivor0us Posts: 1,752 Member
    Americans have a baby and (speaking from experience) may have to be back at work the very next WEEK!

    Whut
  • mookybargirl
    mookybargirl Posts: 165 Member
    A great post! :drinker:
  • VorJoshigan
    VorJoshigan Posts: 1,106 Member
    I wish people would get off the "fresh food costs too much" soap box. Americans spend less money on food than any other country. http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/01/america-food-spending-less

    There are lots of reasons Americans are fat. Expensive produce is not high on that list.
  • vjohn04
    vjohn04 Posts: 2,276 Member
    Good thread. Interesting to see the photos.
  • Spence_
    Spence_ Posts: 139 Member
    They put the dog and cat food on the UK one... and who the hell eats that much chocolate in a week?!
  • Lift_Run_Eat
    Lift_Run_Eat Posts: 986 Member
    Now they need to take a pic of what and how much food is thrown away at the end of the week.
  • WeepingAngel81
    WeepingAngel81 Posts: 2,232 Member
    I see corn flakes seem to be a staple in most homes. Oh and Coke.

    Exactly!

    I agree, but there are also many more fruits and veggies in the homes where coke and corn flakes are a staple.
  • SaishaLea
    SaishaLea Posts: 333 Member
    Wow!
  • ThePrimalSpartan
    ThePrimalSpartan Posts: 59 Member
    This is SO interesting! I can't believe the differences to some countries. The food from Mexico looks gorgeous!!
  • melwharris91
    melwharris91 Posts: 80 Member
    Interesting post. It's no wonder diabetes runs rampant in our country. As someone who works in a grocery store it blows my mind to see what crap people put in their carts such as several 2 liter soda bottles and a weeks worth of frozen pizzas not to mention bags of chips. I will give a pass to those gearing up for a party but I have a feeling that these are everyday choices that are being made
  • SutapaMukherji
    SutapaMukherji Posts: 244 Member
    Happy in India :blushing:

    Would love Italy, France, Australia or Turkey too :smile:
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
    The American pictures are interesting to see. We don't eat anything like that and never have. I'm also surprised to see the amount of bread consumption around the world. People eat a whole lot more bread than my family does. Even the American family with the "healthier" diet doesn't have enough veggies for a week. It's kind of telling. I know lots of families that eat the way pictured in the pic with the 2 pizzas. I have no doubt that this is typical.

    The Japan picture shows a lot of processed foods, but is not accurate from what I know about eating lots and lots of meals with Japanese families. Most families don't have full kitchens and eat at least one meal out a day, usually from a convenience store. If they stacked up 16 big bowls of ramen and several containers of rice au gratin plus a few pre-packaged spaghetti dinners, plus alcohol, it would be way more accurate. Also, the cooking of fish at home isn't quite like that. Most people buy pre-made fish products in the grocery store deli case because it's just easier than trying to cook that at home without a real kitchen to work with. They also need to stack about 50 containers of Starbucks in that picture because the lines always snaked out the door to coffee houses, even in more remote areas.

    I'm surprised by the soda consumption around the world. Also interesting that in the US, they leave the soda in the fast food containers but in the bottles in other countries. Every country in the world (except N. Korea) has McDonald's and lots of other fast food places. And they're always packed.
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
    In for food shaming.
  • cmcollins001
    cmcollins001 Posts: 3,472 Member
    That's for a week, huh? Even when I lived at home so many years ago and there were 4 boys plus mom and dad, I don't think we had that much food in a week AND I know for a fact that picture is not a good representation of what we ate.
  • kitsa77
    kitsa77 Posts: 9 Member

    A self-built straw ball home? Doesn't the average Canadian live in an igloo :P In all seriousness that is not your typical Canadian lifestyle.

    I checked out the link. The Canadian family is from Iqaluit. So their food costs are probably significantly higher than the rest of Canada. It's also funny how the "bad" stuff is hidden further away on the counter behind them.

    I'm pretty sure me and Hubs made the exact same joke at the exhibit LOL

    And I lived in YT for a while, beautiful, but man! Was produce ever expeeeeeensive! Don't get me started on housing lol I can't imagine what it would be like in NT. This family is likely doing very well for themselves.

    I think I may have found the other Canadian family here
    http://www.123inspiration.com/hungry-planet-what-the-world-eats-in-a-week/
  • painthoss
    painthoss Posts: 63 Member
    ... the fattest family with the heaviest children was from Mexico. Not surprised their main source of fluid is Coke.

    Well, they do have to wash down that entire bag of potatoes.
  • MrsWells1983
    MrsWells1983 Posts: 160
    The best part of the pics was seeing the carton of Winnie Blues on the water jugs in the Australian family picture!

    Also if I had to choose any of these for my own weekly shopping trip I'd have to go for India.... I love me a good curry!

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