What the World Eats
Voice 1
Thank you for joining us for today's Spotlight program. I'm Joshua Leo.
Voice 2
And I'm Rebekah Schipper. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
The world is a wonderful mix of people, cultures, religions, and traditions. But there is at least one thing that everyone in the world has in common. That is, we all EAT!
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Today's Spotlight is on a wonderful book called “Hungry Planet - What the World Eats.” It is a book that may make you think. What do you and your family eat?
Voice 1
Imagine having dinner with thirty [30] different families, in twenty-four [24] different countries. Imagine shopping, farming, cooking, and eating with those families. Imagine taking notes about every vegetable peeled, every drink poured, and every package opened. Then, imagine writing a book about your experience.
Voice 2
Well, that is what Faith D'Aluisio and Peter Menzel did! Faith wrote the book. And her husband, Peter, took pictures for the book. Together they travelled to twenty-four [24] different countries. They joined thirty [30] different families as they ate their meals. They wrote down everything they saw and learned.
Voice 1
Each chapter in the book starts with a picture of a family. Under the picture are the names of the family members and the name of the city and country where they live. The family is surrounded by all the food they eat in one week.
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Next to the picture is more information about the family. The information includes how the family prepares their food. It tells how they keep their food fresh. Some families use a stove to cook their food. Other families cook around a fire on the ground. Some families use an electric refrigerator to keep the food cold. But other families must eat everything at once. They have no way to keep their food fresh.
Voice 1
The family's weekly food is put into groups - like meat, fruits and vegetables, milk products, grains and bread, and drinks. The book shows the cost of each group in both American dollars and the local currency amount. Then the book shows the total amount of money the family spends on food in one week.
Voice 2
It is very interesting to see how different the diets of families around the world are. Here are a few of the book's examples. While you listen, think about what your family eats. How does it compare to what other families in the world are eating?
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The Madsen family lives in Cap Hope village in Greenland. Five people live in the home. They spend two hundred seventy-seven [277] dollars each week on food. They spend most of their money on fresh meat. They eat animals like polar bear, walrus, and arctic geese. Many people in Greenland hunt these large animals for their meat.
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The Mendoza family lives in Todos Santos Cuchumatan, Guatemala. Six people live in the home. They spend seventy-five [75] dollars a week on food. Unlike the Madsen family, the Mendoza family eats meat less than once a week. They spend most of their money on fruits and vegetables like bananas, zapote, passion fruit, avocados, green beans, and red chili peppers.
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The Al Haggan family lives in Kuwait City, Kuwait. Eight [8] people live in the Al Haggan home. They spend two hundred twenty-one [221] dollars on food each week. They also eat many fruits and vegetables. They buy oranges, apples, dates peppers, corn, and lettuce. However these foods cost more in Kuwait than they would in Guatemala.
Voice 4
The Revis family lives in North Carolina, in the United States. There are four people in the family. They spend three hundred and forty-two [342] dollars each week on food. They spend much of their money on fast food from eating places like McDonalds, Taco Bell, Burger King, and pizza places.
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The Aboubakar family is from Darfur, Sudan. But, they live as refugees in the country of Chad. D'jimia is a single mother. She has five children she cares for by herself. The family spends a little over one dollar on food each week. In other countries, where food costs more, this amount would be about twenty-four [24] dollars. They mostly make a thick porridge made from sorghum, a grain. D'jimia also receives food aid in her refugee camp. Some days the family lacks food. They must make hard decisions. They must decide who gets to eat.
Voice 1
These are just a few of the examples of the families in the book “Hungry Planet - What the World Eats.” There are many more. All of the examples help us to understand the world we live in. We live in a world where some families eat meat every day. And other families eat mostly fruits and vegetables. We live in a world where some families have enough money to eat whatever they want, whenever they want. And there are other families where some people in the family must go hungry.
Voice 2
According to an organization called World Hunger, there is enough food in the world to feed every person. World Hunger believes that that conflict, poverty, and unequal sharing of resources cause some people to have no food. The organization reports that over one billion [1,000,000,000] people live on less than one dollar a day. That is less than seven dollars a week.
Voice 1
Have you ever thought about how much money your family spends a week on food? How much do you spend on meat and fish? How much do you spend on fruit, vegetables, and grains? How much do you spend at eating places like McDonalds or Burger King? Do you ever buy food that you do not need? Do you ever throw away food?
Voice 2
The book “Hungry Planet - What the World Eats” is not about food politics. The book's authors, Faith and Peter, are not judging people. They are not telling people why hunger exists in the world. They are only sharing what they experienced. The purpose of the book is to help people understand how other people live.
Voice 1
Earlier we talked about the Revis family from the United States. They spent over three hundred dollars [300] a week on food. After reading the book, they felt shame about the amount of food they were eating. Mrs. Revis said,
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“Everyone (in our family) felt very (troubled) by the large amount (and kinds) of food on the table in our picture. (We are using our picture in the book to help us change).”
Voice 2
Spotlight would like to encourage all listeners to examine what they eat. Compare what you eat to what other people in the world eat. Make wise food choices. Try not to waste food. Making good food choices is one way to show respect for people who do not have enough.
Voice 1
The writer of today's program was Rebekah Schipper. Computer users can listen to Spotlight programs along with their scripts on our website at www.radio.english.net. This program is called “What the World Eats.”
