This is old news but I came across this handy chart put together over at the NY Times that illustrates the comparison of US food consumption vs. the rest of the world. Along with highlighting the US dominance in the processed foods arena, there are several other interesting points of comparison.
I was surprised to see how much bakery goods make up the diet of Mexicans, mostly because I've never been a big fan of Mexican baked goods.(Deleon Foods being the exception.) Japan and France are the winners in the sauces/dressings category. China eats more vegetables per capita than the US, Spain and France combined. The chart makes a note that rice sold loose and un-packaged is in the fresh foods category. Both Brazil and China beat out the US in consumption of meat and seafood. Considering the availability of inexpensive fresh fruit in the U.S. I can't figure out why our consumption would fall behind most of the world. Maybe southern climates have a leg up on us with year round tropical fruit.
Click through to see a comparison of fresh and processed foods in pictures from the amazing book . I usually use those pictures in my Powerpoint presentations when sharing about our experience of eating locally.
1. Germany – $500 a week for food
2. North Carolina, USA – $341.98 a week for food
3. Japan – $317.25 a week for food
4. Italy – $260 a week for food
5. Great Britain – $253 a week for food – I wonder if the dog on the table is part of the diet?!?
6. Kuwait – $221.45 a week for food
7. Mexico – $189.09 a week for food
8. California, USA – $160 a week for food
9. Beijing, China – $155.06 a week for food
10. Poland – $151 a week for food
11. Egypt – $68.53 a week for food
12. Mongolia – $40 a week for food
13. Ecuador – $31.55 a week for food
14. Bhutan – $5 a week for food
15. Breidjing Camp – $1.23 a week for food!!! {Sudanese refugees in Chad}
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Is rice a vegetable?
Posted by: Jude | April 05, 2011 at 06:10 AM
Jude, I think it's lumped in with the vegetable category for some reason. I can't confirm it so I took out my little speculative note.
Posted by: craig | April 06, 2011 at 08:00 PM
This is a great post! thanks you so much for sharing it! I will be mentioning it on a upcoming blog post about stretching food bought in bulk, and how it's going to make me skinny ;)
Posted by: fran | July 02, 2011 at 06:47 AM