Peter Menzel (1) (1948–)

Recommended by Lauren B.

Twenty-plus families from countries around the world provide a lens to examine different eating and cooking practices around the world, from a refugee camp in Chad to Mongolia, Greenland, Australia, and more. Each family is photographed surrounded by a week's worth of food; there are facts about each region, a map highlighting each country's location, many captioned photographs, family recipes, and photographer's field notes. There are also photo galleries of different kitchens, street food, fast food, meals, and fish; there are statistics on annual meat consumption, fertility rate, literacy rate, population (% urban), and area in square miles. In short, this is an in-depth look at a topic of vital importance to everyone on the planet: food - how much it costs, what kind is available, how it's grown and cooked. Back matter includes further reading, sources, and index.… (more)

This is a compelling book following up previous works by Menzel, who travels the world creating photo essays. In this collection, Menzel and D'Aluisio look at the food consumption habits of people from around the world. Progressing from least calories to most calories, they show each person or family with their daily allotment of food, ranging from a few handfuls of grains and beans to extravagant table settings. Not only does this book portray the variety of foods from around the world, it also shows the immense scale difference between those who have little and those who have much.… (more)