On the banks of Mali's Niger River, Soumana Natomo and his family gather for a communal dinner of millet porridge with tamarind juice. In the U...
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reviews
Aug 16, 2011
Lisa
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I actually like this book a lot more than other similar books such as Material World. I first saw this as an exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago and then read a copy of the hardcover book. I enjoyed it enough so that I bought the paperback version and although I have not reread it, but I have occasionally looked through it.
It doesn’t get 5 stars from me because, as with all these books comparing people’s circumstances depending on what countries/parts of the world they reside, it More...
It doesn’t get 5 stars from me because, as with all these books comparing people’s circumstances depending on what countries/parts of the world they reside, it More...
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Aug 13, 2008
Katie
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I would give this book 8 stars if I could.
What a great idea! I've seen the book where they place families and all their possessions outside their dwelling around the world, but this takes one weeks worth of food the family eats and places it in front of them.
The family may be the father/mother/children or elderly couple with a more elderly parent or widowed mother/children.
Not only is it the amazing photographs, every food item is categorized including quantity an More...
What a great idea! I've seen the book where they place families and all their possessions outside their dwelling around the world, but this takes one weeks worth of food the family eats and places it in front of them.
The family may be the father/mother/children or elderly couple with a more elderly parent or widowed mother/children.
Not only is it the amazing photographs, every food item is categorized including quantity an More...
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Jul 15, 2007
Alita
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Part photo essay, part political/social commentary, part foodie exploration. It's an amazing book that chronicles the authors' journeys to 24 countries to see how everyday families eat. The book is arranged alphabetically by country. They have photographed the ordinary weekly food intake (at the authors' expense) of each family and written a companion essay touching on the circumstances of that family, general information about the country, and so forth. The pictures are high quality, and the es
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Nov 11, 2007
Elyssa
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We recieved this book as a wedding gift along with Material World, another 5 star book. Hungry Planet is a written and photogrpahic journey of the eating habits of families in various countries. Each family visually displays and lists their weekly grocery purchases. The narrative provides background on the family and the history and customs of their country. The family also provides a favorite recipe--I hope to go back and try some of these. The most interesting countries for me were Okinawa for
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Jan 25, 2008
brian
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Remember "Material World," that 90’s coffee table book, portraits of families around the world, each with their worldly possessions arranged around them outside their homes? Well “Hungry Planet” is the same authors, similar idea, incredible book - family portraits and a week’s consumption – simply jaw-dropping to see what different cultures swill, smoke and ingest. This book is so moving, so eye-opening and thankfully untouched (from what I read) by dogma and pronouncements. Every huma
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Nov 21, 2007
Tracey
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The authors visited 30 families in 24 countries and asked them about their dietary habits, as well as taking a photo of them with a week's worth of food. The countries visited ranged from the US & Australia to Chad and Mongolia. Essays about food-related social issues from various authors (including Jared Diamond & Eric Schlosser, IIRC) are sprinkled throughout, and a chart comparing the countries' financial & food-related statistics is included at the back. A fascinating (& depressing) look at
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Jan 26, 2011
Melissa
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This was a very fascinating book. Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio make a good pair in putting their talents together and creating this masterpiece of food marvel. The main point of the book is to track the weekly food intake of families from all over the world, but goes in to much more than that.
The main focus of this book is on the families within it. They range from three people to over a dozen and the amount of food they go through in a week. The variety includes families from Kuwa More...
The main focus of this book is on the families within it. They range from three people to over a dozen and the amount of food they go through in a week. The variety includes families from Kuwa More...
Nov 12, 2009
Margaret
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I almost have no words to describe how amazing this book is. Menzel, a photographer, and D'Aluisio, who authors the text to go with his photography and happens to be his wife, spent a week each with thirty families in twenty-four countries. At the end of that week, Menzel and D'Aluisio paid for each family to buy an average week's worth of groceries. Each family poses with their food in their home, such as it is, and the book provides a grocery list in addition to a few pages about the family. T
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Jun 07, 2009
Phoebe
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If you saved all the food/liquids that you ate/drank in a week and placed everything onto a table, what would the table look like? This was the question posed by photographer Peter Menzel and writer Faith D'Aluisio who traveled around the world and documented in startling photographs and prose what normal families typically ate/drank. Each chapter of the book contained a full sized family portrait with the food that the family ate, an interesting essay about the authors' travel in the area, th
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Feb 10, 2011
Kelley
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This was a really neat book. I first heard about it in my World History class. We were talking about the present day and my teacher pulled up a website that had a bunch of pictures from this book. It's was really shocking to see how much people eat in a week and how little some people spend.
I used this book and A Material World this past summer at my church camp were I was a consular. We all looked at some of the pictures that I had pulled out and we talked about how we could help pe More...
I used this book and A Material World this past summer at my church camp were I was a consular. We all looked at some of the pictures that I had pulled out and we talked about how we could help pe More...
May 06, 2009
Carter High
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If you are interested in what average families in countries around the world eat, then Hungry Planet is for you. Chock full of pictures, personal accounts, and family recipes, Hungry Planet shows the vast differences between first and third world eating habits.
Mrs. Davenport says, "It is humbling to realize how people around the world rely on locally grown and natural foods...so unlike the American mindset that 'food comes from the grocery store.' PS Michael Pollan has an intr More...
Mrs. Davenport says, "It is humbling to realize how people around the world rely on locally grown and natural foods...so unlike the American mindset that 'food comes from the grocery store.' PS Michael Pollan has an intr More...
Dec 12, 2008
Kathy
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I love picture books, voyeurism, and food packaging from other countries. I spent an afternoon holding this giant book close to my nose as I strained to examine every inch of the photos. The general idea is that families from all over the world pose with a week's worth of groceries. You get the expected American fast food and the bags of grain in Africa. I honestly didn't read many of the essays or sidebar notes, but I enjoyed flipping through the photos. I have decided that I am moving to Franc
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May 09, 2008
Keith
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okay, I'm not quite done with this book yet, but I'm nearly through and it needs to go back to the library... over a week ago I guess... so, here's my review.
From the folks that brought us the Material World coffee table book, which was photographs of families with all their possesions outside their houses, comes a book, featuring many of the same families I believe, this time posed with all their food for a week. Highlighting the differences in diet among the various folks in various More...
From the folks that brought us the Material World coffee table book, which was photographs of families with all their possesions outside their houses, comes a book, featuring many of the same families I believe, this time posed with all their food for a week. Highlighting the differences in diet among the various folks in various More...
Apr 30, 2008
Michelle
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WOW would be a good one-word reaction to this beautifully done book full of food for thought. I am a fan of the Material World books, anyway, but this one was really thought-provoking, with scattered essays to point up some of the issues illustrated by the photos. This is a fantastic book, a must-read for anyone wanting to know more about the people of the world and what lives are like. I am still pondering and processing some of what I read. Some things I've been thinking about:
1) I' More...
1) I' More...
Oct 05, 2007
Ben
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The photos in this book are amazing. The text isn't bad either. Really great read for anyone interested in food. My booktalk from library school is down below.
Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, photographed by Peter Menzel, written by Faith D’aluisio.
Have you ever wondered what the neighbors eat? Why they’re so fat, or so thin? What those strange and appetizing smells are that waft in from their kitchens? How about someone in another part of the world?
A famil More...
Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, photographed by Peter Menzel, written by Faith D’aluisio.
Have you ever wondered what the neighbors eat? Why they’re so fat, or so thin? What those strange and appetizing smells are that waft in from their kitchens? How about someone in another part of the world?
A famil More...
Mar 29, 2007
Lael
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Amazon does a good review, which I am going to borrow:
Amazon.com
It's an inspired idea--to better understand the human diet, explore what culturally diverse families eat for a week. That's what photographer Peter Menzel and author-journalist Faith D'Alusio, authors of the equally ambitious Material World, do in Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, a comparative photo-chronicle of their visits to 30 families in 24 countries for 600 meals in all. Their personal-is-political portrai More...
Amazon.com
It's an inspired idea--to better understand the human diet, explore what culturally diverse families eat for a week. That's what photographer Peter Menzel and author-journalist Faith D'Alusio, authors of the equally ambitious Material World, do in Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, a comparative photo-chronicle of their visits to 30 families in 24 countries for 600 meals in all. Their personal-is-political portrai More...
Dec 17, 2008
Stephanie
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Phenomenal statistical and visual snapshot of what people eat around the world. This book explores how much people spend a week on food and what types of food they are buying, eating, and growing. There are endless stats on cigarette consumption and obesity in both the developed and non developed world. It even covers how many McDonalds' are in each country highlighted. Fascinating book with my favorite culture being the Inuits in Greenland. And I complain about it being cold at 50 degrees!?
Jul 26, 2011
Crystal
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From full page photo spreads and provocative essays (with contributing writers such as Michael Pollan, "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food") sprinkled throughout, the authors of "Hungry Planet" dive into the lives of thirty families from 24 countries around the world, following them into their homes and out into the communities. Also has an interesting compilation of recipes, from Guatemalan Sheep Soup to Greenlandic Seal Stew, this book was a pleasure
Dec 03, 2008
Erica
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Beautiful photos, stunning juxtapositions. I wish the writing could have been a little more gripping, and clarifications made (did they or did they not purchase the weeks worth of food for the portrait takers? The afterward states that they did, but reading the text implied that the families were buying the food with their own money).
The photos! I still cannot get over the ubiquity of certain food items, like knorrs bullion or pringles or coke!
The photos! I still cannot get over the ubiquity of certain food items, like knorrs bullion or pringles or coke!
Jul 08, 2008
Stacy
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Reading Hungry Planet definitely expanded my understanding of our world and the diverse people that inhabit it. I really enjoyed the pictures, and found the portraits of the families standing with their weekly supply of food to be powerful displays of inequality. Personally, I was surprised that while many of the Western countries had so much more in terms quantity, it seemed that many of the other countries enjoyed so much more in terms quality (aside from those in refugee camps).
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Dec 23, 2010
linda
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Third in the Material World series, as far as I'm concerned, only this time it's about how people eat and interact with food and how all of that is changing. The profiles of the two families in China -- one in rural, one in Beijing -- are startlingly telling, and so were the profiles of the English and American families. I never get sick of looking at what people are eating or how they cook it, and what it says about people to see how they consume.
Aug 21, 2009
Debbie
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A photographic collection exploring what the world eats featuring portraits of thirty families from twenty-four countries surrounded by a week's worth of food. What an amazing compilation: poeple in refugee camps, wealthy Americans, Aussies and Germans, Greenlanders butchering seals, many many pounds of rice. A fascinating, illuminating portrait of hunger and abundance as well as the effects of McDonald's and Coca Cola.
Dec 20, 2008
Hannah
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I am thoroughly enjoying this book. The photos are gorgeous and the statistics are staggering. I have checked this out from the library and would love to add it to my own and to the libraries of friends, family and schools. The breakdown of calories, alcohol consumption, cigarette usage, diabetes, pounds of meat consumed annually, etc. across the globe is so telling and fascinating. Highly recommended!
Nov 17, 2010
Vy
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I read this book with my older daughter several years ago, and since we were reading another Menzel book, I thought it was time to revisit the images. They are still as powerful as I had remembered them. The first time, the strongest impressions I had were of the disparities in quantity of food, of course, but this time (because I've been thinking a lot about the issue), what struck me was just how highly processed our Western diet is.
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Aug 25, 2008
Elizabeth
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I tracked down this book when an e-mail was going around with some excerpts. I am so much more aware of how much i spend on food and what I buy. The photos of the american's food was so repulsive compared to other families who had lots of fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, etc... and the families who had next to nothing really made me appreciate the abundance we have in this country. i generally despise leftovers but i have been making a point to be sure i either do not cook more food tha
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Jan 11, 2010
frances
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SO GREAT. go read this book right now. amazing photography, plus essays about how and what families all over the world eat. really eye-opening, and pretty to boot. love it as a coffee table book, but if you actually read all the text you'll be touched and feel like you should buy less processed crap. (and want to go to guatemala for the once-a-year crazy festival, if you're me).
Nov 14, 2007
Kim
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Ok, here's a fun trick: read " The Tortilla Curtain" and then immediately follow up with "Hungry Planet". Then go into a supermarket and fall down on your knees marvelling at the wondrous selection around you...
"Hungry Planet" is a fascinating look at the variety of foods that people in different cultures consume during the course of a week. It's not a difficult read, but it took me a long time to get through because each story is really powerful, and pu More...
"Hungry Planet" is a fascinating look at the variety of foods that people in different cultures consume during the course of a week. It's not a difficult read, but it took me a long time to get through because each story is really powerful, and pu More...
Apr 26, 2011
Misty
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Wow!!!! Very, very cool book! I couldn't put it down! And the kids even had fun looking through it as well. Another book that remindes me just how blessed I really am. And reminds me how much junk I eat! This book puts food into perspective. Looking at what people eat all around the world, really makes what I eat look like a TON! Since first picking up this book over 2 years ago in a collage class, I've really thought twice about what I put into my body. Great book! Definately recommen
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Jun 15, 2010
Darla
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30 families in 24 countries display what they eat in a week; fascinating with culturally insightful commentary. I am always telling my kids how blessed we are; sharing with them the realities of people around the world reinforced this. We also talked about how the food we eat affects us. A book you can flip through or really delve into (I recommend the latter).
Dec 13, 2009
Laura
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I got this book because I loved Material World (by same author) so much. While it was not as striking to me, it is jam packed with photos and text that elucidate the have and have nots around the world. Very fun one for tweens/young adults to get a vivid picture of the differences around the world in both availablity and cultural variation in food.
