Time Magazine is running a photo essay that shines a spotlight on affluence vs. hunger. In each photo, a family stands before a table spread with all its food for the week. Each family comes from a different country, and the essay illuminates the differences among the haves, the have-somes and the have nots. You can see which cultures lean most heavily on convenience foods; which face the most arduous preparation, and which don’t have much to work with in the first place.
Captions on the photos reveal how much each family spends on their weekly meals as well as their favorite foods or family recipe. For instance, in Japan, the family spends about $317 a week. In Chad, the family spends about $1.23 a week.
But the numbers only begin to tell the story. The photo essay is excerpted from Peter Menzel’s 2005 book Hungry Planet, and you can view the Time excerpt here.