The Whole World Over
June 23, 2008
Did you ever wonder how your family's food consumption compares with, say, a family in Ecuador or Bhutan? A new book compares what families around the world eat over the course of a week. There's a photo of an American family surrounded by pizza boxes and economy-size soda bottles. A Bhutanese family has fresh vegetables and a huge bag of rice. Not surprisingly, an Italian family consumes a lot of bread. Meanwhile, a family in a Sudanese refugee camp gets by on a bag of rice so small that it breaks your heart.
Looking at photos like this helps us understand, in a very concrete way, where we fit in the world. Your family might want to take this one step further and think about having a "thin meal" – something like broth and rice. You can donate the money you've saved to a charitable group. A meal like that can really give your family something to chew on.
Mealtimes Matter Video
from Miriam Weinstein
About Miriam
Miriam Weinstein is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. As a journalist, she has won several awards from the New England Press Association. Her work has appeared in Boston Magazine, the Boston Globe magazine, Hope, and ParentSource. A former staff member for North Shore Weeklies and freelancer for Essex County Newspapers, she writes restaurant reviews and food columns as well as features on a wide variety of subjects. She lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with her husband and has two grown children.
The Surprising Power of Family Meals
In her book, The Surprising Power of Family Meals, Miriam Weinstein shows how this basic human institution helps nourish and strengthen our families today.