What The World Eats Reflection

Hungry Planet: What the World Eats is a photo collection taken by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio that highlights the most core thing about families from around the world: what they decide to eat. The collection not only shows what the average family eats, but how certain societal norms shape those choices. The first and most obvious thing that can be seen in the pictures are the differences in amounts of food each family has. It is obvious which families eat for survivial and which families eat for entertainment. It is also worth noting that the families with the highest amount food are not necessarily the ones with the most mouths to feed. In fact, in picture 11 (of the Ahmed family), there are twelve people pictured, but there an average amount of food compared to the other pictures. These people do not look "hungry", nor do they have the physical apperance of needing more nutrition. But how can this be possible, one may wonder. How can a family of twelve eat the same aount as a family of four and not be hungry? That answer lays, once again, in the sociatal norms around food. A family in the USA has, in genenral, more pressure to eat more than a family from Cairo and vise versa. It's hard to think that there is pressure to eat MORE, but picture this. An American family prepares a modest meal for Thanksgiving. At work the next day at work, coworkers are talking about how much they ate. People share stories of how full they were, or how intense their food comas were, or how much was left over. When it comes time for the modest parent to share, their stories are vastly different than their coworkers. Now, this isn't a huge problem. People aren't regularly bullied into eating more food. The main problem with this practice is the assumption that everyone has the same means and thoughts when it comes to food. I challenge people who have access to food to not take that for granted. There are so many people out there who have to fight everyday to get food, while we don't think twice about throwing out milk a day past the expiration. As can be seen from Hungry Planet, food is a precious commodity for some people, and taking your privledge for granted is a disservice to the world. Link to Hungry Planet: http://time.com/8515/hungry-planet-what-the-world-eats/