Photojournalist Peter Menzel and his wife and writer Faith D'Aluisio,
from California, spent three years travelling to 30 countries visiting
countless people to document what they eat over the course of a single
day. The result is a fascinating study of people and their diets.
Menzel’s long research culminated in a stunning photobook entitled "
What I Eat: Around The World In 80 Diets"
where Menzel featured 80 profiles including such diverse types as a
Japanese sumo wrestler, a Massai herdswoman, an Arctic hunter, an Indian
Hindu sadhu, a Sudanese refugee in Chad, a Tibetan yak herder, a
Bangladeshi factory seamstress, and a wounded Iraq war veteran, among
others. Each image is accompanied by a detailed breakdown of the meals
and brief essays on food politics and cultural obsessions with diet.
Source: amusingplanet.com
The
profiles are organized by calorie intact per day, starting with a
Kenyan Maasai herder who eats just 800 calories a day, mainly in the
form of cornmeal porridge, and ending with a British mother with a
eating disorder who consumes an unbelievable 12,300 calories a day of
pure junk.
Through the various diets, “What I Eat” provides
great insight into food habits of people around the globe. For instance,
we learn that a Latvian beekeeper’s meal consist mainly of homemade
pork meatballs and boiled potatoes, while a homemaker in Yemen relies on
mutton and vegetable stew flavored with fenugreek, and that a
Vietnamese rice farmer eats rice noodles in fish sauce for breakfast.
Some of the findings are fascinating. A Brazilian fisherman consumes a
whopping 5,200 calories a day, but as Menzel's photo shows, he has an
average build, and the quantity of food on his table seems reasonably
healthy: whole milk, an entire freshwater fish, pinto beans and noodles.
Compare that to an American truck driver who gets his 5,400 calories
from cheeseburgers, fried foods and Starbucks.
“What I Eat” isn't the first book from husband and wife team Menzel and D'Aluisio. A few years ago, their book “
Hungry Planet” documented what families from around the world eat over the course of a week.

Camel
broker Saleh Abdul Fadlallah with his day's worth of food at the
Birqash Camel Market outside Cairo, Egypt. The caloric value of his
day's worth of food on a typical day in the month of April was 3200
kcals. He is 40 years of age; 5 feet, 8 inches tall; and 165 pounds.

Robina
Weiser-Linnartz, a master baker and confectioner with her typical day's
worth of food in her parent's bakery in Cologne, Germany. The caloric
value of her day's worth of food in March was 3700 kcals. She is 28
years of age; 5 feet, 6 inches tall; and 144 pounds. She's wearing her
Bread Queen sash and crown, which she dons whenever she appears at
festivals, trade shows, and educational events, representing the baker's
guild of Germany's greater Cologne region.

Shashi
Kanth, a call center worker, with his day's worth of food in his office
at the AOL call center in Bangalore, India. He is 23 years of age; 5
feet, 7 inches; and 123 pounds. Like many of the thousands of call
center workers in India, he relies on fast-food meals, candy bars, and
coffee to sustain him through the long nights spent talking to
Westerners about various technical questions and billing problems.

Tersius
"Teri" Bezuidenhout, a long-haul trucker delayed by paperwork at the
Botswana-Namibia border stands next to his truck with his typical day's
worth of road food.

Oscar
Higares, a professional bullfighter, with his typical day's worth of
food in the bullring in Miraflores De La Sierra, Spain, on a training
day.

The
head monk at his partially rebuilt monastery with his typical day's
worth of food in the Tibetan Plateau. The caloric value of his day's
worth of food in June was 4,900 kcals. He is 45 years of age; 5 feet, 5
inches tall; and 158 pounds.

Curtis
Newcomer, a U.S. Army soldier, with his typical day's worth of food at
the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in California's Mojave
Desert. The caloric value of his day's worth of food in the month of
September was 4,000 kcals. He is 20 years old; 6 feet, 5 inches tall;
and 195 pounds. During a two-week stint before his second deployment to
Iraq, he spends 12-hour shifts manning the radio communication tent
(behind him). He eats his morning and evening meals in a mess hall tent,
but his lunch consists of a variety of instant meals in the form of
MREs (Meals, Ready-to-Eat). His least favorite is the cheese and veggie
omelet.

Din
Memon, a Chicago taxi driver, with his typical day's worth of food
arranged on the hood of his leased cab on Devon Avenue in Chicago,
Illinois. The caloric value of his day's worth of food in the month of
September was 2,000 kcals. He is 59 years of age; 5 feet, 7 inches tall;
and 240 pounds. His favorite food includes Kebabs, chicken tika, or
biryani. Tika is dry-roasted marinated meat, and biryani is a rice dish
with meat, fish, or vegetables that is highly seasoned with saffron or
turmeric.
Conrad
Tolby, an American long-distance truck driver, photographed with a
typical day's worth of food on the cab hood of his semi tractor trailer
at the Flying J truck stop in Effingham, Illinois. The caloric value of
his meals this working weekday was 5,400 kcals. At the time of the
photograph Tolby was 54 years of age; 6 feet, 2 inches tall; and weighed
260 pounds. His meals on the road haven't changed much over the years -
truck stop and fast-food fare, heavy on the grease, despite warnings
from his doctor. He has more reason than most to watch his diet, as he's
suffered two heart attacks both in the cab of his truck. The trucker
travels with his best friend and constant companion, a five-year-old
sharpie dog, named Imperial Fancy Pants, who gets his own McDonald's
burger and splits the fries with Conrad.

Oswaldo
Gutierrez, Chief of the PDVSA Oil Platform GP 19 in Lake Maracaibo,
Venezuela with his typical day's worth of food. The caloric value of his
day's worth of food on a day in December was 6000 kcals. He is 52 years
of age; 5 feet, 7 inches tall; and 220 pounds. Gutierrez works on the
platform for seven days then is off at home for seven days. While on the
platform he jogs on its helipad, practices karate, lifts weights, and
jumps rope to keep fit. His food for the seven days comes from the
platform cafeteria which, though plagued with cockroaches, turns out
food choices that run from healthful to greasy-fried. Fresh squeezed
orange juice is on the menu as well and Gutierrez drinks three liters of
it a day himself. His diet changed about ten years ago when he decided
that he'd rather be more fit than fat like many of his platform
colleagues.

Nguyên Van Thuan, a war veteran, with his wife in their studio apartment with his typical day's worth of food

Saada
Haidar, a housewife, with her typical day's worth of food at her home
in the city of Sanaa, Yemen. The caloric value of her day's worth of
food in the month of April was 2700 kcals. She is 27 years of age; 4
feet, 11 inches tall; and 98 pounds. In public, Saada and most Yemeni
women cover themselves for modesty, in accordance with tradition.

Bruce
Hopkins, a Bondi Beach lifeguard, with his typical day's worth of food
in Sydney, New South Whales, Australia. The caloric value of his day's
worth of food on a typical day in the month of February was 3700 kcals.
He is 35 years of age; 6 feet tall, and 180 pounds. Hopkins eats
moderately - rarely, if ever - eats fast food, and drinks alcohol only
when he and his wife go to dinner with friends.

Shahnaz
Begum, a mother of four, outside her home with her microloan-financed
cows and her typical day's worth of food outside her home in the village
of Bari Majlish, an hour outside Dhaka.

Solange
Da Silva Correia, a rancher's wife, with family members in their house
overlooking the Solimoes River, with her typical day's worth of food.
The caloric value of her day's worth of food on a typical day in the
month of November was 3400 kcals. She is 49 years of age; 5 feet 2.5
inches tall; and 168 pounds. She and her husband, Francisco (sitting
behind her, at right), live outside the village of Caviana with three of
their four grandchildren in a house built by his grandfather. They
raise cattle to earn income and sometimes a sheep or two to eat
themselves, but generally they rely on their daily catch of fish, and
eggs from their chickens, for animal protein. They harvest fruit and
Brazil nuts on their property and buy rice, pasta, and cornmeal from a
store in Caviana. They also purchase Solange's favorite soft drink made
from guarana, a highly caffeinated berry indigenous to the country.

Coco
Simone Finken, a teenage vegetarian who lives in the city of Gatineau,
Quebec, Canada with her day's worth of food. The caloric value of her
day's worth of food on a typical day in the month of October was 1900
kcals. She is 16, 5' 9.5" and 130 pounds. The family doesn't own a car,
buys organic food if it's not too expensive, and grows some of their own
vegetables in their front yard.

Willie
Ishulutak, an Innuit soapstone carver in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada with
one day's typical food, and drink. The caloric value of his day's worth
of food on a typical day in the month of October was 4700 kcals. He is
29 years of age; 5 feet, 9 inches and 143 pounds. Carving is one of the
few traditions of the Inuit that has made the leap into the wage-earning
modern world. Willie says he can complete two or three pieces in a day,
then sell them in the evening at bars and restaurants in Iqaluit for
$100 ($93 USD) each, and sometimes more.

Neil
Jones, the Director of Operations at the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada,
with one day's worth of his typical food in the skypod of the tower. The
caloric value of his day's worth of food on a typical day in June was
2600 kcals. He is 44 years of age; 6 feet, 2 inches tall and 220 pounds.
The viewing platform is above the world's highest revolving restaurant,
which revolves 360 degrees. The award-winning restaurant has
awe-inspiring views and, for a tourist destination, surprisingly
excellent food. The pricey entrance and elevator fee of about $25 per
person is waived if you eat at the restaurant, making it cheaper to have
lunch than to just see the sights.

Xu
Zhipeng, a freelance computer graphics artist and Internet gamer, with
his typical day's worth of food in his rented chair at the Ming Wang
Internet Café in Shanghai, China. The caloric value of his day's worth
of food in June was 1600 kcals. He is 23 years of age; 6 feet, 2 inches
and 157 pounds. He lives at his computer station, day and night,
sleeping there when he's tired and showering once a week at a friend's
apartment. His longest continuous game lasted three days and nights.
When he tires of gaming at the café he reads fantasy books.

Chen
Zhen, a university student, with her typical day's worth of food on
Nanjing East Road in Shanghai, China. The caloric value of her typical
day's worth of food in June was 2600 kcals. She is 20 years of age; 5
feet, 5 inches tall and 106 pounds. Although she doesn't care for
noodles or rice, a special rice roll is her favorite snack: black
glutinous rice wrapped around youtiao (fried bread), pickled vegetables,
mustard greens, and flosslike threads of dried pork. Zhen and her
friends eat at KFC about three times a week, something they couldn't
afford without the company's coupons. Meanwhile, her father and
grandparents, who live in a tiny apartment in northeast Shanghai, go
without meat during the week so they can afford to share a special meal
with Zhen on her weekend visits.

Lan
Guihua, a widowed farmer, in front of her home with her typical day's
worth of food in Ganjiagou Village, Sichuan Province, China. The caloric
value of her day's worth of food on a typical day in June was 1900
kcals. She is 68 years of age; 5 feet, 3 inches tall; and 121 pounds.
Her farmhouse is tucked into a bamboo-forested hillside beneath her
husband's grave, and the courtyard opens onto a view of citrus groves
and vegetable fields. Although homegrown vegetables and rice are her
staples, chicken feathers and a bowl that held scalding water for easier
feather plucking are clues to the meat course of a special meal for
visitors. In this region, each rural family is its own little food
factory and benefits from thousands of years of agricultural knowledge
passed down from generation to generation.

Maria
Ermelinda Ayme Sichigalo, a farmer and mother of eight with her typical
day's worth of food in her adobe kitchen house in Tingo village,
central Andes, Ecuador. The caloric value of her typical day's worth of
food in the month of September was 3800 kcals. She is 37 years of age; 5
feet, 3 inches tall; and 119 pounds. With no tables or chairs,
Ermelinda cooks all the family's meals while kneeling over the hearth on
the earthen floor, tending an open fire of sticks and straw. Guinea
pigs that skitter about looking for scraps or spilled grain will
eventually end up on the fire themselves when the family eats them for a
holiday treat. Because there is no chimney, the beams and thatch roof
are blackened by smoke. Unvented smoke from cooking fires accounts for a
high level of respiratory disease and, in one study in rural Ecuador,
was accountable for half of infant mortality.
Sources:
NPR /
Villagevoice