What Americans Eat VS. The World In Pictures

In the book 7, Jen Hatmaker focuses on seven areas of her life that she lives in excess.  And food was a big one.  I have done it a million times, gone into the fridge and complained because there was "nothing there".  Or not eaten produce in time and had to throw it out.  Consumers in America and Europe throw away on average per person 209-253 pounds of food per year.  For one single person.  Click this link to see several other horrifying food waste facts.

Below is a visual of what different countries eat in a week. All Images are from the book Hungry Planet  I'll start with a typical American family.


North Carolina, United States

Now lets look at a few others.

The most heartbreaking for me is the following family of 6 in Chad.  Pictured below is what all of them eat in a week.  Now peek back up again to the American family.

Chad, Africa


Here's a family in China.  I would assume that they are considered well-ish off considering it appears that they live in the city and not out in the countryside, although I can't be certain.  Even they consume much less food than the American family of 4

China


The next family is a family of 11.  It is almost all fresh food, and eat feeds an alarming amount of people.

Egypt


Ecuador


Mongolia


Bhutan

Can you even believe the difference in most of these to what a typical American family eats?  It was shocking for me at first to view the images.  And yet an American family of 4 throws away almost 1000 pounds of food a year.

Jen Hatmaker decided to eat only 7 foods for an entire month, and spend the time focusing on being thankful for what she has even she's sick of it and researching different countries and food.  I have been doing this for the month of September.  And it is much harder than you think it would be.  The first days are okay because I like all the foods I picked, but then stuff happens and you need to eat something fast, only you can't a whole bunch because most of your food requires cooking.

My 7 foods are modeled closely after what Jen used in 7.  They are: chicken, avocado, sweet potatoes, eggs, carrots, apples, and brussell sprouts.

I think it is going to be a tough next three weeks, as I am already sick of almost everything in my list.  Imagine being someone who eats only very few things because that is all they have or can afford.

Certainly changes some perspectives, doesn't it?