What All of Us Eat

Quote of the day:
“People living in ethnically diverse settings appear to ‘hunker down’--that is, to pull in like a turtle.”
--Robert Putnam, who has conducted a massive new study on the relationship between diversity and civic engagement.

Statistic of the day:
40% of North Korean children are chronically malnourished.

In the wake of Thanksgiving, here’s a website worth a few minutes of your time.

It shows how much families pay for food in a week in nations around the world. It’s not a surprise that there’s big difference from most to least, but seeing it in color brings it home.

The food choices are quite interesting, too. What we eat is strongly related to our culture. No surprise. It may be a surprise how strongly we expect certain foods at certain times of day.

For some of us, eggs in the morning. Or cereal. Or steamed milk and coffee (as in Starbucks). Cheeseburger or turkey sandwich for lunch. Dinner has more variation, but often it is pizza, pasta, roast chicken, burritos or salad.

Sometimes, what we eat is also related to what is grown and easily attainable near us. From the website, some cultures are much more dependent on this than others.