Hungry Planet: What the World Eats

Food writers and photographers Faith D’Aluisio and Peter Menzel traveled to 24 countries and spoke to 30 different families about what they ate over the course of a week. In this book, they’ve combined the families’ stories with recipes, costs of the food (in both native currency and US dollars), background on the economic and agricultural situations of the region and pictures of the featured dishes.

 

Interspersed between the chapters are essays by various food scientists, activists and scholars on different topics - fast food, street food, globalization, weight, nutrition, etc. While I don’t agree with all the conclusions, I appreciated being able to see the different points of view. (It didn’t hurt that the essays were immediately followed by many pictures of delicious looking food!)

 

This book is a fascinating look at cultures and situations that many us will never find ourselves in, told through the lens of something we can all relate to.