Food Cultures
Very little about what drives the wheels of the global food system is derived from the physical needs of the body. Far more powerful are the needs of our collective global cultures. One only needs to compare the divergent environmental impacts of India’s largely vegetarian diet which supports close on 1 billion people with the meat hungry cultures of Brazil or South Africa to get a feel for this. Or the health implications of North America’s quasi-religious fast food culture, with the Italian ideals of slow-cooked food and cold-pressed olive oil.
What I Eat by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio, presents the stories people told of the foods they ate in one day, from the frigid shores of Greenland to the bustling streets of Shanhai and from Africa’s Great Rift Valley to New York.
The images are presented in sequence of the number of calories contained in those meals. Totaled up, the calories in their meals ranged from a starvation-level 800 to a high of 8400. As Faith explains, the calories listed here are not meant to be seen as precise representations of average daily intake. Instead,they are brief, impressionistic cross-sections that may well include under or over estimations of usual daily food consumption. Even so, these images provide an incomparable documentary record of the stunning diversity of foods, diets,and occupations that sustain life in today’s world...Most of the people interviewed for this book say they have more than enough to eat,sometimes much more. Only a few do not, so the book begins, appropriately, with them.
The Maasai herdswoman (800 calories) and the runaway Bangladeshi boy(1,400 calories) stand for the billion or so people in the world who go hungry every day, and the many more who barely get by.For the rest of us, the variety of food choices is astounding. Peter and Faiths' images illustrate the unwelcome transition from traditional foods to processed junk foods as globalization expands. What people eat reflects the economic effects of globalization, as well as the effects of a globalized food supply on health and the environment. Together, these diets have more to tell us about the human condition in this century than any textbook or statistical table ever could. The images invite you to explore the lives of 10 Africans and 12 others from the farthest reaches of the world, to see how your own diet compares.
3,347 KILOJOULES
The Maasai Herder
Noolkisaruni Tarakuai, third of four wives of a Maasai chief, at her family’s corral with her typical day’s worth of food. The prolonged drought that has taken a toll on livestock and wild animal populations alike throughout sub-Saharan Africa has also taken a toll on its people. There is little forage left for Noolkisaruni’s cattle, and the gaunt cows produce barely enough milk for their calves, leaving only a pittance for Noolkisaruni’s family and herdsmen. Two months after we visited, the Tarakuai family sent a message saying, “The chief has fewer than 50 cows and calves left from his large herd of more than 400, and it is getting dire because the rains have not been adequate.” The family was only able to salvage the hides, which they sold.
BREAKFAST AND DINNER Ugali (thick cornmeal porridge), 14.1 oz (only half is pictured) • Banana, 3.4 oz • Black tea (2), 12 fl oz; with whole milk, 2 fl oz; and sugar, 2 tbsp • Water,hauled from a reservoir and boiled, 2.1 qt
Age: 38 • Height: 5'5" • Weight: 47 kg
KENYA
3,766 KILOJOULES
The Caretaker
Marble Moahi, a mother living with HIV/AIDS, in the family kitchen house with her typical day’s worth of food and her antiretroviral medications. Despite a decline in new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa, this region of the world remains the most heavily impacted by HIV/AIDS. According to 2008 estimates, over two-thirds of the 33.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS are African, and in sub-Saharan Africa women are disproportionately affected (60 percent). In Botswana in 2007, there were roughly 300,000 people living with HIV — one in four adults; due to AIDS, there were an estimated 95,000 orphans.
BREAKFAST Motogo (thin grain porridge), made of sorghum, 11.3 oz; with sugar, 1 tbsp
LUNCH Madombi (boiled wheat flour dumplings), 6 oz • Beef, including marrow, 2.9 oz • Knorrox beef bouillon cubes, chili-pepperflavored, 0.2 oz • Knorr minestrone soup mix, 0.5 tsp
DINNER Motogo, made of sorghum, 10 oz; with sugar, 1 tbsp
OTHER HIV/AIDS antiretroviral medications • Water, hauled from a communal tap and boiled, 1.6 qt
Age: 32 • Height: 5'5" • Weight: 42 kg
BOTSWANA
5,858 KILOJOULES
The Runaway Train Porter
Alamin Hasan, a 12-year-old runaway, at the train station in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where he works and sleeps, with his typical day’s worth of food. Working as a porter, the boy earns enough in tips to eat morethan he was getting at home. After a long ride on the roof of a train from his home in the north, 12-year-oldAlamin Hasan arrived in Dhaka to look for work. Upon his arrival at theKamalapur Railway Station, he saw boys carrying baggage for passengers andgetting coins in return, and he never left the station.
BREAKFAST Sweet white bread roll, 2.8 oz • Black tea with sweetened condensedmilk and sugar, 4 fl oz
LUNCH Vegetable curry of potato, green beans, onion, and garlic with turmeric, 3.2 oz •Whiterice, 13 oz
DINNER Vegetable curry of tomato, white radish, onion, and garlic with ground chilies andturmeric, 4.8 oz • White rice, 9.8 oz
THROUGH OUT THE DAY Black tea with sweetened condensed milk and sugar, 4 fl oz • Cigarettes(5) • Boiledwater, 1.1 qt
Age: 12 • Height: 4'7" • Weight: 31 kg
BANGLADESH
6,276 KILOJOULES
The Himba Pastoralist
Viahondjera Musutua, a Himba tribeswoman, at her father’s village with her youngest son and her typical day’s worth of food. The 23-year-old mother of three lives in a small village a seven-hour walk south from her father’s village but visits yearly to collect her share of the family corn. Her traditional dress includes a full body glaze of otjize, a cosmetic made of ground ochre, butterfat, and plant resin.
FIRST MEAL OF THE DAY Cornmealporridge, 1.7 lb; with sour whole milk, 11.3 fl oz
SECOND MEAL OF THE DAY Cornmealporridge, 1.8 lb; with sour whole milk, 11.3 fl oz
THROUGH OUT THE DAY Sourwhole milk, 26.3 fl oz • Bird plums (not pictured as she ate what she had picked before the photo wastaken), 3.5 oz • Water from nearby river, 12 fl oz
Age: 23 • Height 5'8" • Weight: 73 kg
NAMIBIA
6,694 KILOJOULES
The Candidate for Obesity Surgery
Rick Bumgardener, at home with his recommended daily weight-loss diet. Wheelchair-bound outside the house and suffering from a bad back and type 2 diabetes, he needs to lose 100 pounds to be eligible for weight-loss surgery. Rick tries to stick to the low-calorie diet pictured here but admits to lapses of willpower. Before an 18-year career driving a school bus, he delivered milk to stores and schools, and often traded with other delivery drivers for icecream. School cafeteria staff would feed the charming American at deliverystops, and he gained 100 pounds in one year. The prescription drug fen-phen helped him lose 100 pounds in seven months, but he gained it all back, plus more.
BREAKFAST 12-grain bagel, 1.5 oz; with Jennie-O Breakfast Lover’s turkey sausage, 1.6 oz; and Smart Beat non-dairy cheese substitute, American cheese flavored, 0.7 oz • Quaker Simple Harvest granola bar, chocolate chunk, 1.2 oz •Iced tea, 12 fl oz; with Splenda sweetener,1 tsp
LUNCH Lean Pockets stuffed sandwich, Philly steak and cheese, 4.5 oz • Green Giant broccoli and carrots with Italian seasoning, 3.5oz • Iced tea, 12 fl oz; with Splenda sweetener, 1 tsp
DINNER Chicken leg coated with light Italian dressing, baked, 4.7 oz • Ronzoni Healthy Harvest whole wheat blend, yolk-free pasta, with Ragu Double Cheddar cheese sauce and steamed broccoli, 8.6 oz • Jello-O sugar-free pudding snack, dulce deleche, 3.7 oz • Iced tea, 12 fl oz; with Splenda sweetener, 1 tsp
SNACKS AND OTHER Quaker Simple Harvest granola bar, roasted nut, 1.2 oz • Nabisco 100 Calorie Packs, Planters Peanut Butter Cookie Crisps, 0.8 oz • Babycarrots, 2.5 oz • Grape tomatoes, 2.4 oz • Cauliflower, 1.4 oz • Green onion, 0.4 oz • Radishes,0.3 oz • V8 100% Vegetable Juice, low-sodium, 5.5fl oz • Crystal Clear bottled water, 1.1 qt • Supplements: cranberry caplet; vitamin B12; multivitamin • Medications: allopurinol, aspirin, calcitrIol, diltiazem, exenatide, glyburide, losartan • Other medications (not in picture, and only taken when needed): alprazolam, colchicine, fexofenadine, gabapentin, naproxen, simvastatin
Age: 54 • Height: 5'9" • Weight: 212 kg
USA
7,113 KILOJOULES
The Weight-Loss Camper
Mackenzie Wolfson in the cafeteria at Camp Shane, USA, with her prescribed day’s worth of food. Dating back to 1968, Camp Shane is the oldest weight-loss camp in the country and is a heavy investment for parents. There are about 500 male and femalecampers housed in small cabins on shaded hillsides overlooking athletic fields, a small lake, and the camp’s most important building, the cafeteria. “The food here is not bad. It’s not what I would order in a restaurant,” says 15-year-old Mackenzie. “You know, its been prepared low-fat, low-sodium, but when you eat it you’re like, whoa, this isn’t that bad. And it’s really good for me… But before everyone goes, they pig out the week before. One summer I probably gained about five pounds the week before I went to camp.”
CAFETERIA BREAKFAST Apple pancakes (2), each with 2 tbsp of apple filling, 4 oz; with Smucker’s sugar-free syrup, 1 tbsp •Turkeysausage, 1 oz • Skimmilk, 4 fl oz • Orange juice from concentrate, 4.9 fl oz
CAFETERIA LUNCH Peanut butter and jelly sandwich: whole wheat bread, 4.6 oz; reduced-fat peanut butter, smooth, 1 tsp; Smucker’s sugar-free jam, Concord grape, 1 tsp • Celery sticks, 0.8 oz •Babycarrots, 1.3 oz • Ambrosia (fruit salad): mandarin oranges, 0.9 oz; pineapple tidbits, 2 tbsp; shredded coconut, 1.5 tsp; mini marshmallows, 0.2 oz; plain yogurt, 1 tsp
CAFETERIA DINNER Chicken cacciatore: pulled chicken meat (without skin or fat), 2.5 oz; and vegetables, 3.6 oz; cooked with Smart Balance margarine, 1.5 tsp • Salad of lettuce, cabbage, and carrot, 1.1 oz; with fat-free Italian dressing, 0.5 tsp • Whole wheat pasta, 2 oz • Sugar-free fruit punch drink, 5.3 fl oz • Italian ice, 4 fl oz
CAMP SNACKS AND OTHER Apple (not in picture), 5 oz • Chocolate pudding (not in picture), 4oz • Pretzel (not in picture), 1 oz •Tapwater, 2.1 qt
Age:15 • Height: 5'9" • Weight: 136 kg
USA
8,368 KILOJOULES
The Diamond Polisher
Mestilde Shigwedha, a diamond polisher at NamCot Diamonds, with her typical day’s worth of food. Her simple childhood diet in a village near the Angola border evolved to include more global fare as her highly skilled work allows her to afford food (and housing) she didn’t know existed before moving to Windhoek. World-renowned for its gem-quality stones, the country’s diamond industry has raised the standard of living for thousands of Namibians. Because diamonds are the hardest natural material known, they can only be polished using other diamonds, in the form of diamond dust sprinkled on an oiled turntable. The diamond is clamped onto a tool that holds it at a precise angle to the turntable and carefully polished one facet at a time.
BREAKFAST DURING WORK BREAK: Wheat bread, 3.8 oz • Apple, 5 oz • Black tea, 10 fl oz; with sugar, 1 tbsp; and non-dairy powdered creamer, 0.5 tsp
LUNCH: Spaghetti, 10.7 oz; with tripe (beef stomach), 2.5 oz; and potatoes, 0.8 oz; eaten in a sauce made from the beef broth flavored with onion, chili powder, and Knorr vegetable soup mix, powdered, 3.8 oz • Blacktea, 10 fl oz; with sugar, 1 tbsp; and non-dairy powdered creamer, 0.5 tsp
DINNER: Millet and cornmeal porridge, 13.7 oz • Horse mackerel, 7.2 oz; with sauce of onion, tomato, and Taste-Mate curry powder, 6 oz • Blacktea, 10 fl oz; with sugar, 1 tbsp; and non-dairy powdered creamer, 0.5 tsp
Age: 28 • Height: 5'1" • Weight: 54 kg
NAMIBIA
9,623 KILOJOULES
The Teenage Refugee
Violent clashes and civil unrest have been a fact of life throughout much of Sudan’s modern history, most recently between government backed Arab Muslims and non-Arab black African Muslims in the Darfur region. When pro-government Janjaweed militia began burning villages and killing people near teenager Abdel Kerim Aboubakar’s Masalit village in far west Darfur, he and his family were forced to flee. Abdel sits in the Breidjing Refugee Camp on the Chad-Sudan border, with his typical day’s worth of international food aid, his family, and their tent. The camp houses 42,000 refugees — more than twice the number they planned for.
BREAKFAST FROM FOOD AID: Aiysh (thick, congealed grain porridge) of sorghum, with a coating of vegetable oil, 1.5 lb • Thin vegetable soup, 2.9 fl oz
LUNCH FROM FOOD AID: Aiysh, 1.5 lb • Thin vegetable soup, 2.9 fl oz • Orange drink, powdered, mixed with water, 16 fl oz
DINNER FROM FOOD AID: Aiysh, 1.5 lb • Thin vegetable soup, 2.9 fl oz
THROUGHOUT THE DAY: Water trucked in from an Oxfam borehole, 16.1 fl oz
Age: 16 • Height: 5'9½" • Weight: 50 kg
SUDAN
10,042 KILOJOULES
The Model Student
Mariel Booth, a professional model and New York University student, at the Ten Ton Studio in Brooklyn with her typical day’s worth of food. At a healthier weight than when modeling full-time, she feels good but laments that she’s making much less money. “That’s what’s so annoying. My weight is great. I’m a size 4½...which is a really bad size for modeling because I don’t fit into the 4's and there’s no market for size 6. It’s irresponsible for me to be the weight I am. If I lost five pounds, I would probably make a lot more money.” She laments.
BREAKFAST Fruit salad of strawberries, blueberries, peach, and melon from Ruby’s Diner, with low-fat yogurt, 9.3 oz • Blue Diamond Almond Breeze almond milk, 8.6 fl oz; mixed with Whole Foods soy protein powder, vanilla, 2 tbsp • Soy latte, 16 fl oz
LUNCH Dean & Deluca brown rice vegetarian sushi, 7 oz; with soy sauce, 1 tsp; and wasabi, 0.3 tsp • Kombucha Wonder Drink fermented tea, 8.5 fl oz • Zico coconut water, 11.2 fl oz
DINNER Tuna salad: Bumble Bee tuna, packed in water, 4.6 oz; corn, 4.4 oz; avocado, 3.3 oz; mixed greens, 2.2 oz; cucumber, 1.9 oz; kidney beans, 1.9 oz; tomato, 1.1 oz; with lemon juice and olive oil dressing, 1 tbsp • Progresso Vegetable Classics soup, minestrone, 13.1 oz • Multigrain roll, 2.7 oz • White wine, 6.2 fl oz
SNACKS AND OTHER 365 Everday Value pita chips, 1.9 oz • Tofutti Cuties dairy-free ice cream sandwich, vanilla, 1.6 oz • Yogi Tea and Numi caffeine-free teas (4), 1.3 qt; with honey (not in picture), 2 oz • Fiji bottled water, 3.2 qt
Age: 23 • Height: 5'9½" • Weight: 61 kg
USA
10,042 KILOJOULES
The Microloan Fish Fryer
Roseline Amondi, a mother of four and microloan recipient, in front of her restaurant with her typical day’s worth of food. On the left: Roseline fries some tilapia to sell to people returning from work. A neighbor sells mandazi (the plural of ndazi, a sweet fried bread), as people hurry to work or school. Roseline and her husband, George, have lived in Kibera, Africa’s biggest slum, for 20 years. A new community-built multistory toilet facility nearby charges residents a few cents per day, cutting down thenumber of “flying toilets”— human waste in plastic bags thrown onto roofs and into the open sewers lining the streets.
BREAKFAST Ndazi (fry bread), 2.8 oz • Black tea, 4.3 fl oz; with whole milk, 4.3 fl oz; and sugar, 1.2 oz
LUNCH Pintobeans cooked with onion, tomato, Royco spice mixture, and oil, 6.2 oz • Whiterice, 10 oz
DINNER Ugali (thick cornmeal porridge), 13.6 oz • Sukumawiki (kale or collard greens, sauteed in oil with onion and tomato), 3.5 oz • Coca-Cola, 10.1 fl oz
SNACKS AND OTHER Deep-fried tilapia (not in picture), 2.8 oz • Black tea (3), 12.6 fl oz; with whole milk, 12.6 fl oz; and sugar, 3.5 oz • Tapwater purchased on the street, 26.4 fl oz
Age: 43 • Height: 5'11" • Weight: 105 kg
KENYA
10,878 KILOJOULES
The College Student
Chen Zhen, a university student, on Nanjing East Road, Shanghai, with her typical day’s worth of food. Although she doesn’t care for noodles or rice, a special rice roll is her favorite snack: black glutinous rice wrapped around youtiao (fried bread), pickled vegetables, mustard greens, and floss-like threads of dried pork. Zhen and her friends eat at KFC about three times a week, something they couldn’t afford without the company’s coupons. Meanwhile, her father and grandparents, who live in a tiny apartment in northeast Shanghai, go without meat during the week so they can afford to share a special meal with Zhen on her weekend visits. At right: Chen Zhen and her family share a meal of greens with garlic, potatoes with greenbell pepper, rice, and fava beans with pig’s knuckles.
BREAKFAST Fantuan (rice roll) filled with youtiao (deep-fried bread), dried pork threads, pickled vegetables, and spicy, salted mustardgreens, 7.3 oz • Guangming wholemilk, 8.5 fl oz
LUNCH KFC breaded chicken thigh, regular, 3.7 oz • KFC crispy chicken sandwich, 4 oz • KFC french fries (not in picture), small, 2.3 oz • KFC hot fudge sundae, 5 oz
DINNER Suanchaoyoucai (a vegetable similar to bok choy, stir-fried with garlic), 2 oz • Hongshaoqiezi (eggplant, stir-fried with garlic, soy sauce, and red chili pepper flakes), 2.9 oz • Soup of tomato and egg, 8 oz • Whiterice, 3.6 oz
THROUGHOUT THE DAY Bottled water, 1.1 gal
Age: 20 • Height: 5'5" • Weight: 48 kg
CHINA
11,297 KILOJOULES
The Homemaker
After much searching and many dead ends in Yemen’scapital city of Sanaa, we finally find a husband willing to allow his wife tobe interviewed and photographed with her typical day’sworth of food. Few women in this patriarchal, Islamic, and deeply traditional country interact with men outside their family. Saada Haidar, at home with her typical day's worth of food. In public she and most Yemeni women coverthemselves for modesty, in accordance with tradition.
EARLY MORNING Qishir (sweet, tealike coffee made from coffee bean husks), 4.1 fl oz
BREAKFAST Ful (fava beans), cooked with onion, tomato, and ground chilies, 5.6 oz •Khubz (wheat flour flat bread), 3.7 oz • Blacktea, 3.4 fl oz; with sugar,1 tsp
MID MORNING SNACK Khubz, 1.8 oz; with tahini, 0.9 oz; and feta cheese, 0.9 oz
LUNCH Saltah (mutton, eggplant, tomato, and onion stew with hot chilies and hulbah, a foamy fenugreek topping), 8.7 oz • Rice, spiced with cumin and cardamom, 10.6 oz • Fresh tomato relish, 4.4 oz • Lahuuh (a fermented flat bread, similar to a pancake), 3.9 oz • Salad of cucumber, onion, carrot, tomato,cilantro, parsley, and lime juice, 5.8 oz • Green onion, 1.3 oz • White radish, 1.8 oz • Black tea with sweetened condensed milk, 3.2 fl oz
DINNER Scrambled eggs with tomato and onion, 3.8 oz • Maluuj (bread made from millet and wheat flours), 5 oz • Black tea, 3.4 fl oz; with sugar, 1 tsp
SNACKS AND OTHER Mango, 8.7 oz • Banana,4.1 oz • Cantaloupe, 3 oz • Honeydew,3.2 oz • Papaya,4.1 oz • Qafuu’a (bread made from wheat and lentilflours; a full round is pictured, but only one-third is eaten), 4.1 oz • Calfmeat on bone,* 9.2 oz • Bottledwater, 1.6 qt
*Not included in calorie total, as she eats this only once a week.
Age: 27 • Height: 4'11" • Weight: 44 kg
YEMEN
12,134 KILOJOULES
The Call Center Operator
Shashi Chandra Kanth, a call center operator, in the AOL call center with his typical day’s worth of food. Like many of the thousands of call center workers in India, he relies on fast-food meals, candy bars, and coffee to sustain him through the long nights spent talking to Westerners about various technical questions and billing problems. He took a temporary detour into the call center world to pay medical and school bills but finds himself still there after two years, not knowing when or if he will return to his professional studies.
BREAKFAST Eggs (2), 3.5 oz; scrambled with onion, tomato, green chilies, and cilantro, 2.5oz • Chapati (whole wheat flat bread), 3 oz • Whole milk, 5.5 fl oz • British Biologicals Nutraceutical B-Protin powder, 1.5 tbsp; mixed with whole milk, 5.5 fl oz
LUNCH Sambar (spicy curry of lentils cooked with carrot, onion, potato, and ground toasted spices including dried red chilies, coriander seeds, and black peppercorns), 5.8 oz • Chicken kebab, 3 oz • White rice, 5.9 oz
DINNER DURING WORK Beijing Bites chowmein combo meal, 7 oz
SNACKS AND BEVERAGES AT WORK Five Star chocolatebars (3), 3.4 oz • Tropicana Twister Orange Thrill fruit drink, 11.8 fl oz • Tropicana Twister Apple Rush fruit drink, 11.8 fl oz • Kurkure tomato chips, 1.8 oz • Parle Melody chocolate caramel pieces (3), 1.2 oz • Coffee (4), 12 fl oz; with non-dairy powdered creamer, 1 tsp • Orbit sugar-freegum, peppermint, 6 pieces
SNACKS AND OTHER Orange, 5.8 oz • Cigarettes(6) • Filtered tap water, 1.6 qt
Age:23 • Height: 5'7" • Weight: 56 kg
INDIA
13,389 KILOJOULES
The Camel Broker
Saleh Abdul Fadlallah above a holding pen at the Birqash Camel Market with his typical day’s worth of food. Contrary to popular belief, camels’ humps don’t store water; they are a reservoir of fatty tissue that minimizes heat-trapping insulation in the rest of their bodies; the dromedary, or Arabian camel, has a single hump, while Asian camels have two. Camels are well suited for desert climes: their long legs and huge, two-toed feet with leathery pads enable them to walk easily in sand, and their eyelids, nostrils, and thick coat protect them from heat and blowing sand.These characteristics, along with their ability to eat thorny vegetation and derive sufficient moisture from tough green herbage, allow camels to survive in very inhospitable terrain.
BREAKFAST Eggs (2), 3.8 oz; fried with butter, 1 tbsp; eaten with ful medames (fava beans cooked with garlic, lemon juice, cumin, and oil; not in picture*), 5.2 oz; and aish baladi (flat country bread), 8.6oz • Fried potato chips, 1.3 oz • Tomatoes, 6.1 oz; with salt, 0.5 tsp • Feta cheese, 3.7 oz • Black tea, 3.8 fl oz; with sugar, 1 tbsp • Boiled water, 7 fl oz
LUNCH Goat meat broth with bone, 6.7 oz • Potato and tomato cooked with onion, garlic, cumin, Egyptian baharat (spice mixture), and oil, 6.7 oz • Soup of molokhiya (Jew’smallow), chicken stock, butter, garlic, and coriander, 4.5 oz • White rice, 7.5 oz • Black tea, 3.8 fl oz; with sugar, 1 tbsp
DINNER Aishbaladi, 8.6 oz • Fetacheese, 2.3 oz • Whiterice, 6.3 oz • Friedpotato chips, 1.5 oz • Blacktea, 4 fl oz; with sugar, 1 tbsp • Boiledwater, 7 fl oz
THROUGHOUT THE DAY Blacktea (6), 20 fl oz; with sugar, 2.5 oz • Cleopatra king-size cigarettes, 1 pack
*The dish at lower right (additional goat meat with broth) is a stand-in for the missing beans and isn’t included in the calorie total.
Age:40 • Height: 5'8" • Weight: 75 kg
EGYPT
15,899 KILOJOULES
The Mountain Farmer
Maria Ermelinda Ayme Sichigalo, a farmer and mother of eight, in her adobe kitchen house with her typical day’s worth of food. With no tables or chairs, Ermelinda cooks all the family’s meals while kneeling over the hearth on the earthen floor, tending an open fire of sticks and straw. Guinea pigs that skitter about looking for scraps or spilled grain will eventually end up on the fire themselves when the family eats them for a holiday treat. Because there is no chimney, the beams and thatch roof are blackened by smoke. Unvented smoke from cooking fires accounts for a high level of respiratory disease and, in one study in rural Ecuador, was accountable for half of infant mortality.
BREAKFAST Empanadas (fried turnovers) filled with cheese, 8.1 oz • Chapo (toasted barley and wheat flours, mixed with instant coffee, panela [hard brown sugar], and hot water), 7.5 oz • Panela mixed with hot water, 6.4 fl oz
LUNCH Barley flour, added to water to make barley flour soup, 10.6 oz • Boiled potatoes with carrots and green beans, 1.4 lb
DINNER Salad of lettuce, potato, and carrot, 15.2 oz •Greenplantain, 3.5 oz • Yellowplantain, 7.8 oz
SNACKS AND OTHER Roasted potatoes, 1.4 lb • Machica (toasted barley and wheat flours), added to hot water throughout the day, 4.6 oz • Water from a nearby spring, for cooking, 2.1 qt
Age: 37 • Height: 5'3" • Weight: 54 kg
ECUADOR
16,736 CALORIES
The Businessman
George Bahna, an engineering company executive and martial arts instructor, in his apartment overlooking the Nile River, with his typical day’s worth of food. George eats four to five times a day but doesn’t worry about gaining weight because he’s active, working out in a special room in his flat, and at the private Gezira Sporting Club near his apartment. Although Egypt’s stock market and gross domestic product have risen steadily for the past four years, the standard of living for the average Egyptian has not, with many remaining very poor. The government continues to provide food subsidies for those in need, creating a sizable budget deficit.
BREAKFAST Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut cereal,3.4 oz; with whole milk, 18.2 fl oz • Enjoy apple juice, 1.1qt
SECOND BREAKFAST Fruit salad of apple, banana, orange, and strawberries, 17.5 oz; with honey, 3oz • Hard-boiledegg white, 2.2 oz
LUNCH Breaded veal cutlets, fried, 9.8 oz • White bread rolls (2), 2.8 oz • Lettuce,0.8 oz
DINNER Chicken baked with tomato sauce, 11.4 oz • Peas and carrots in tomato sauce, 1.6 lb •
Whiterice, 6.9 oz •Salad of lettuce, tomato, and green onion, 9.2 oz; with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing, 2 fl oz; and pepper, 0.5 tsp
THROUGHOUT THE DAY Siwa bottled water, 3.2 qt
Age: 29 • Height: 5'11" • Weight: 75 kg
EGYPT
17,991 KILOJOULES
The Game Warden
UahooUahoo, an Etosha National Park warden, standing in the back of his truckwatching a herd of springbok, with his typical day’s worth of food. Uahoo’s love of the outdoorsbegan in his youth, growing up near Waterberg National Park, 225 miles south ofEtosha. Seeing conservationists and tourists passing by the cattle breedingstation where his father was employed piqued his interest. He began workingwith an entomologist while on school holidays, and he ran an environmental clubin school. After completing a degree in natural resource management, he landeda job as one of only seven wardens in Etosha National Park, which is the sizeof New Jersey. Uahoo is now completing a master’s degree online.
BREAKFAST Schweppes tonicwater, lemon, 6.8 fl oz • Five Roses tea,zesty lemon, 10 fl oz; with sugar,1.5 tbsp; and NestleCremora non-dairypowdered creamer, 2 tsp
LUNCH Hartlief lambribs, 10.9 oz (raw weight); stewed with tomato (not in picture), onion, and greenbell pepper (not in picture), 3.4 oz • Whitebread, 2.5 oz •Sprite,11.2 fl oz
FIELD SNACKS Prima cannedwieners, 9.9 oz • Oranges(2), 9 oz •Spicecookies (2), 1.7 oz
DINNER Hartlief stewingbeef, 1.1 lb (raw weight); stewed with tomato (not in picture), onion, and greenbell pepper (not in picture), 3.5 oz • Whiterice, 5.7 oz •Koo cannedguava halves in syrup, drained,8.5 oz •Sprite,11.2 fl oz
SNACKS AND OTHER Baker’s Red Label sweetbiscuits (cookies), lemon cream (4), 2.9 oz • Parmalat Pure Joy pineapplejuice, 10.8 fl oz • Boiledwater, 1.1 gal
Age:31 •Height: 5'10½"•Weight: 81 kg
NAMIBIA
28,033 KILOJOULES
The Arctic Hunter
Emil Madsen, a seal hunter, on thesea ice in front of his sleeping sled dogs with his typical day’s worth offood. Armed with two rifles, a shotgun, and generations of survival knowledgepassed on by his father (also a seal hunter), Emil is ready and able to feedhimself and his family. Sunny days in May bring24-hour daylight at thislatitude near the Arctic Circle—midday temperatures above freezing cause theice to retreat or break off into Scoresby Sound, seen behind him. Although wild game is his favorite,Emil packs bread, jam, margarine, coffee, tea, sugar, and onions on his huntingtrips. He uses a kerosene stove, rather than burning seal fat, as wastraditional, to cook his food and to melt snow for water.
BREAKFAST Ryebread, 2.4 oz; with marmalade, strawberry, 1.8 oz; margarine, 2.6 oz; and Foodline chocolatecream spread, 2.8 oz • Nescafe instantcoffee (2), 19.3 fl oz
LUNCH Knorr minestronesoup mix, powdered, 2.3 oz; mixed with melted snow, 18.7 fl oz • Skibskiks(hard, dense crackers) (5), 4.2 oz
DINNER Sealmeat, 4.4 lb (raw weight); boiled with onion, 3.9 oz; and salt, 1.4 oz •High Class whiterice, 4.4 oz (dry weight)
THROUGHOUT THE DAY Nuuk Imeq fruitdrink, made from a concentrate mixed with melted snow, 3.7qt •Pickwick tea,lemon flavored, made with melted snow (4), 1.2 qt •Nescafe instantcoffee, 9.6fl oz •Sugar(for teas and coffees), 4.2 oz • Prince cigarettes(not in picture), 1 pack
Age:40 •Height: 5'8½"•Weight: 77 kg
GREENLAND
35,146 KILOJOULES
The Trans-Kalahari Trucker
Tersius “Teri” Bezuidenhout, along-haul trucker delayed by paperwork at the Botswana-Namibia border, with histypical day’s worth of road food. Compared to highways in North America andEurope, African highways have more dangers and fewer services. Beyond wildlyvarying road conditions, hazards include cattle and wild animals wandering into theroad at will. To make better time, he eats from cans, boxes, and jars while hedrives — food very different from the simple porridge and boiled meat he eats athome with his girlfriend and children. His girlfriend, who still works at theslaughterhouse where Teri used to work, is jealous. She tells him, “You don’tspend this much money in your own home, but for your truck you buy so much goodfood!”
PREPARED IN THE MORNING TO EATTHROUGHOUT THE DAY Fatti’s & Moni’s macaronipasta, 1.1lb (dry weight); mixed with Knorrox soymince, mutton flavored, 7.1 oz (dry weight); Knorr curry vegetablesoup mix, 2 tbsp; AllGold tomatoketchup (not in picture), 3.6 fl oz; cooked with sunflower oil(not in picture), 3.2 fl oz
EATEN THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND NIGHT Spar cannedcorned meat product, 10.2 oz • Prima Meatballs in Rich Gravy cannedmeat product, 14.1 oz • Koo Meal in One cannedspaghetti and Viennasausages in tomato sauce, 14.5 oz • Bull Meatballs in Rich Gravy cannedmeat product, 14.1oz •Simba Nik Naks popcorn,original cheese flavored party bag, 8.8 oz •Tasty Treats sweet biscuits(cookies) with cream and chocolate, 3.5 oz •Red Bull energydrink (3), 25.4 fl oz • Twist mandarinsoda, 2.1 qt •Nestle bottledwater, 27.1 fl oz
Age: 25 •Height: 5'2" •Weight: 87 kg
NAMIBIA