An incredible commentary on our food consumption in the USA

This is another great post from Fabulously Broke’s Blog.  She took this from a MSN article.  All commentary is from her, but I agree with it.

I have posted the whole slideshow in its entirety so it’s easy to scroll, read the cost of food in each country for a week and to see the pictures.

United States – The Revis Family

Cost of a week’s worth of food: $377.20

FB: I think they eat the most processed food out of the lot.

Favorite foods: spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken

France – The Le Moine Family

Cost of a week’s worth of food: $463.20

FB: This family spends the most money on food.

Favorite foods: apricot tarts (family recipe), pasta carbonara, Thai food

Japan – The Ukita Family

Cost of a week’s worth of food: $349.93

Favorite foods: sashimi, fruit, cake, potato chips

China – The Dong Family

Cost of a week’s worth of food: $171.03

Favorite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce

India – The Patkar Family

Cost of a week’s worth of food: $43.31

Favorite food: rice flakes (family recipe)

Mexico – The Casales Family

Cost of a week’s worth of food: $208.57

FB: This family seems to drink the most pop

Favorite foods: pizza, crab, pasta, chicken

Ecuador – The Ayme Family

Cost of a week’s worth of food: $34.80

FB: This family seems the happiest to me. Look at those grins!

Favorite food: potato soup with cabbage

Mali – The Natomo Family

Cost of a week’s worth of food: $29.11

FB: This family spends the LEAST amount of money per week, but they seem to have more people to feed!!!!

Favorite food: rice dish (family recipe)

England – The Bainton Family

Cost of a week’s worth of food: $279.22

FB: They seem to have the least amount of food, but most of it is processed.

Favorite foods: avocados, mayonnaise sandwiches, prawn cocktails, chocolate fudge ice cream

Turkey – The Celi Family

Cost of a week’s worth of food: $160.91

Favorite food: puffed pastries (family recipe)

Initial Observations

• Developed countries such as the States, China, Japan and the U.K. rely quite heavily on processed foods
• Countries that are not as economically bountiful such as Turkey, Mexico, India or Ecuador, eat very fresh fruits and vegetables with not many canned or processed foods

We  currently pay a premium to eat such fresh fruits & veggies, avoiding cans, pre-packaged goods, and processed foods as much as possible.

It was quite evident in Portugal when we visited in the summer that eating fresh food was just normal fare to them, but we were gorging ourselves like people who had never eaten such flavourful vegetables or fruits before.

How interesting and ironic it is that living in such developed nations has made us think of natural, raw food as a luxury, and that we have to pay a premium to eat it.

I think it all boils down to:

• laziness (not wanting to cook, eating pre-packaged items instead of making it from scratch)
• availability of food (those under developed nations don’t have canned goods, therefore they don’t buy them)
• family preference/eating habits