Hungry Planet: what the world eats photographed by Peter Menzel; written by Faith D’Aluisio
Adult Non-Fiction - Upper Level - 641.3 M
Everybody eats. This book is an intimate look at one of the most universal activities—eating. Photographer Peter Menzel and journalist Faith D’Aluisio chronicled 30 families in 24 countries. These profiles vividly depict family life and offer a close-up of food gathering and eating around the globe. Each family purchased a week’s worth of groceries and arranged a family portrait with their food; whether it was sacks of grain and plantains or pizzas and packaged cereals. The stories give an inside look at their shopping and eating habits, and recipes for special dishes are included. Sidebars provide enough information to fill an atlas. The cost of Big Macs, cigarette use, and alcohol consumption are some of the data featured for each nation.
We meet families including the Baintons of Great Britain, whose charming portrait includes Polo the terrier and his box of kibble. Meanwhile, the Natomos of Mali struggle to feed a family of nine children on $26.39 a week. Another picture shows a TV satellite dish in Bhutan used as a container to dehydrate chili peppers. While the photography is gorgeous, it’s the issues that these images bring to light that make this book so fascinating.