Culture and Eating

            What The World Eats, by D’Alusio & Menzel, primarily focuses on the cost and type of ingredients representative families across several countries use on a weekly basis.  This differs from Bisogni, who points out that most westernized societies eat out and not as a family. The access to so many different food options everywhere causes a person to have a surplus of food options each day at their disposal. This changes how food is prepared/thought of and has decreased traditional eating styles over the years. What The World Eats discussed many places around the world that still use a more traditional style while preparing meals. Some of the countries they discussed were Japan, India, Philippines and France. In Japan, for example, many families base their meals around the food they can gather from the sea since Japan is surrounded by water. This is shown in the average amount of fish consumed per person each year, which is 146 pounds! Sayo Ukita, a mother of two wakes up early every morning to prepare a breakfast salad for her two daughters, Mio and Maya. The breakfast salad consists of tomato, cucumber and lettuce. The two girls eat their breakfast while enjoying a cup of tea and the mother kneels to join them and eat her own. Sayo has also prepared Maya two school lunch bento boxes that consist of grilled fish, lightly steamed green bean flanks, white rice and the second containing 4 strawberries, 2 cherries, and a thin slice of Fuji apple. Mio, the older daughter eats lunch with her friends at the fast food restaurants near her school. The difference between westernized fast food restaurants and the ones in Japan are that the chains in Japan change their menu seasonally, which is a longstanding Japanese tradition. For dinner Sayo will ride her bike to the train station to buy the freshest food she can find and spend over an hour preparing a nice dinner. In the typical week, Japanese families eat at least a dozen different kinds of fish, shellfish and three varieties of seaweed. The average amount of money spent on a weeks worth of food in May was 37,699 Yen or $317.25 USD.

            The average Indian family spends a lot less on their food per week (at least when compared to USD) typically around 1,636,25 rupees or $39.27 USD. Most Hindus are vegetarian and meat will never be served at their table. One family, the Patkar’s, usually sit down together for one meal a day, which is breakfast. What is typically served for breakfast is something like potatoes, onions and chopped chili peppers in some mustard seed and vegetable oil. Poha—which are rice flakes, are drained and added to the frying pan with a little sugar and salt and pinch of turmeric. The Poha will then be covered by condiments such as shredded dried coconut and chopped cilantro and crisp chickpea flour noodles (sev). The Poha is served ontop of the fluffy vegetables and rice with coconut, cilantro and sprinkled on sev. For other meals, India seems to love street vender food. Dishes like chhole bhature (spicy chickpea curry with flat bread), steamed rice cakes, pav bhaji (spicy mashed vegetables in a bread bowl), uttapam (thick and crispy flat bread made with coconut milk) with spicy vegetables, dosa (crisp savory pancake) with chutney or other spicy relishes are a few favorites. For a long time India’s unique food has been separated by regions but due to the increasing mobile society the foods of each region are spreading elsewhere. One thing I found quite interesting (and disgusting) about India is the amount of people without access to a toilet and therefore defecate wherever they can causing a lot of bacteria to be in the air and thus also on the food. My friend is in India (Bangladesh) right now and has been to the hospital 4 times with issues after eating food there. She also sends me videos and pictures of all the trash that is just lying on the ground and how animals and people will literally defecate anywhere, even by food vendors and markets. 

            Like India, the Philippines is also a very poor, crowded and polluted country. Many families pile into small homes—sometimes putting almost 4 people in a small room at once. One family in particular, the Cabaña’s are a perfect example of the little amount of space available in a typical home. This family packs 8 people into 3 bedrooms while renting out the other space to other families. The mom works multiple jobs to keep her family afloat and prides herself on making many Suki’s which is a term used for buyers/sellers that do repeated business with one another. This is important because it results in her getting good deals on food (more for less money). She is very conscious about spending money and doesn’t typically buy meat but always tries to buy food that is nutritious but not expensive like vegetables and fish. Though fast food like McDonalds has made its way to the Philippines, the street food is a mainstay in culture and important in maintaining the underground economy. Ian (youngest son) eats lunch on the street every day and spends about 100 pesos or ($1.80 USD). Charles prefers to eat fast food but points out that the street food is better because its more affordable, accessible and has a distinct cultural flavor. At night, everyone returns home to eat dinner as a family. A family favorite is snigang, which is a sour, tamarind-flavored broth with fish, shellfish, pork or beef. The Cabaña’s typically spend around $2629.50 pesos or $49.42 USD a week on food.

            France seems to be the country that is most like the United States when it comes to food. The chains of supermarkets are causing many local grocery stores to close down and for typical and traditional French food to rise in price. A typical meal for the Le Moine family revolves around convenience not tradition. Due to the increase in foreign-born Parisians, a wide variety of food has been introduced to France and has some feeling that it has altered the way people eat their meals. The Le Moine daughters express that during the week their lunches typically consist of yogurt and takeout Chinese food and although they like tasting food from other countries they are afraid that the French culture is disappearing all together. There are still many classic French shops available to buy the traditional meals like gratins, meat dishes, cheese, salad courses, rich desserts and bottles of wine but they are becoming more and more expensive and are a lot less accessible. One thing that really struck me about France was the amount of cheese they consumed per year… about 57 lbs. The average amount a French family spends on a weeks worth of food is around 315.17 Euros or $419.95 USD.

            After reading about these 4 countries I went and read about the United States and tried to compare my findings.

France: $92.29 on meat, eggs, fish

            $85.66 on prepared foods

            Soft drinks 23.8 quarts per person a year

            $24.45 Dairy

Japan: $99.80 meat fish eggs

            Prepared food $21.78

            Dairy: $2.26

            Fish 146 lbs a year

            6.7% diabetes 20 yr older

India: most money spent on dairy $9.70

            Fruits/veggies/nuts: $7.73

            Street food $3.07

            Undernourished pop: 20%

            Population w. access to safe sanitation: 33%

Philippines: Meat eggs fish $19.72

            Fruits/veggies/nuts $7.17

            Fast food $1.13

            Diabetes 7.1%

USA: meat: $42.10

            Snacks and desserts $23.33

            Condiments: $16.05

            Beverages $18.87

            Restaurants: $42.11

            13,491 mcdonalds restaurants –Japan @ 3,891

Overweight/Obesity

            France: Ov: 47M/35F; Ob: 8M/6.8F

            Japan: Ov:27M/18F; Ob: 1.8M/1.5F

            India: Ov: 17M/15.5F; Ob 1.2/1.4

            Philippines: 21/29; 1.5/4

            USA: 75/73; 37/42

Life Expectancy:

            France: 77B/84G

            Japan: 79/86

            India: 62/64

            Philippines: 64/71

            USA: 75/80

Very scary to see our rates of obesity compared to these other countries as well as the amount of money we spend on meat/snacks and desserts/restaurant food. Also, I found it alarming how many McDonald’s restaurants we have (13,491) and the next highest is Japan with 3,891. USA families seem to eat out a lot more than other countries do, therefore it seems convenience plays a big role in the way we spend our money on food. With the rising numbers of chain restaurants (which most are sneakily very unhealthy) and also the number of fast food places around our country it is easy to see why America is so obese. I found it interesting how in the reading about France they pointed out that their groceries are turning into chains and that they were becoming more Americanized and they had the second highest obesity rates.