Food has been in the news of late.  Our President almost started a riot in India with his comments blaming Indians for driving food prices higher by increasing their caloric intake.  One of the comments in the aftermath challenged the US to take the money spent on liposuction each year and invest it in food and agriculture in developing countries.

The graphic above is from a NY Times article that lays out the consumption of various foods in leading countries.  It is a stunning collection of data, comparing the food consumption in pounds per person between the US, India, and China for foods like beef (93lbs for Americans vs 3lbs and 12lbs per person in India and China respectively), milk (198lbs for US vs 78lbs/23lbs), and chicken (99lbs vs 4lbs/17lbs).  Rice is the only outlier (29lbs for US vs 170lbs/213lbs).

The Freakonomics blog has a Q&A with Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio, authors of Hungry Planet:  What the World Eats.  Here is an NPR article and podcst from 2005 when the book came out.  The two sat down with thirty families in twenty-four countries, photographing and documenting their meals.

Sobering stuff.  With oil prices topping $127 a barrel today, raw materials and food continue to be consumed and prices move up globally.  Should we be concerned?  Should we do anything as a nation?  Should you and I do anything personally?

Tags: Faith D'Aluisio, freakonomics, George W Bush, Hungry Planet, India, Peter Menzel

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