There has been a lot of finger pointing about what's to blame for the global food shortage. Some claim global warming, or gobbling up certain foods for ethanol means less for eating, or just harvests coming up short. All of this may be true, but add to that the newest figures from the United States Agriculture Department from 2007 and Americans can point a fat finger at themselves too.
Ready for this? It's gut-check time: the Agriculture Department states that while one Indian eats roughly 392 lbs of grain in a year, a US citizen eats 2,306 lbs. — over five times greater. Yup. And it's not just Indians — US citizens also eat twice the amount of an EU citizen and three times the amount of someone living in China. To see the specifics, read more.
In terms of meat consumption, the US leads the world per capita by a beefy mouthful. In America it is 94 lbs per person compared to 3.5 lbs in India and 13 lbs in China. True a significant portion of Indians are vegetarian, but even in liquid milk consumption Americans use 172 lbs per year for each person while India has 79.3 lbs and China 24.2 lbs.
As for African grain and milk consumption, both are as low as one might expect given the political and economic woes that continually plague the continent. In 2007, foodgrain consumption was 357 lbs per year for each person and as for meat or milk products, the figures were too insignificant to count.
What factors are behind the discrepancies in these numbers? Do US eaters have an obligation to cut down on their chowing down? Should the US government step in to help equalize what's on the global menu?
Milly
Vivienne Westwood
Giorgio Armani
I'm not on a diet, I'm saving the planet.
1I'm sorry, but if I have the money to pay for it, I get to eat what I want.
2Can't comment ... must finish ... cheeseburger ...
3Maybe this is why food companies keep trying to kill us.
4If we're going to equalize anything, why don't we at least start with the six million malnourished children in our own country before we run around and save the world?
5i agree with stiletta.
6wow. you are the most insensitive people on the planet. remind me not to share my energy powder and protein pills with you when the end days are upon us. seriously. "i have the money to eat what i want"?? YIKES.
7wait. I have to say one more thing... yes of course we should help people here, OF COURSE WE SHOULD. but we are the richest damn country in the world, and we are making all the money we spend on applebee's and chili fries off the backs of people in developing countries whose children are starving to death. we HAVE to help.
8We only eat it because we can. If we didn't have it, we'd figure a way to grow it or produce it.
The REASON we have it is because we believe in FREEDOM and we are CAPITALISTS. The reason they do not have it is because they are under the rule of SOCIALISM, MARXISM, DICTATORS, etc, etc.
ANY FREE COUNTRY can do what we did and can have what we have.
And that's one of the reasons that a ga-zillion people want to live in the USofA, legally or not.
So, do I think I should take food out of my puppies' mouths and give it to some dictator or some socialist or marxist? NO.
Not unless the Country embraces some kind of freedom and capitalism that allows their populace to grow their own and create their own and manufacture their own and then keep the profits to ensure that more people will follow suit and that Country will no longer be a Third World Country with a Fithy Rich Ruling Class who make sure that they get but their people don't.
As a NATION, the USofA should NOT dump money and food into the hands of Third World Rulers. We might fly over and parachute food drops to the masses. But NO MONEY where there is no accountability.
I do feel very sorry for the people who are dying in places like Africa. And I think we should all pray for Africa. But if you look at the whole picture, the reason Africa is in trouble is not because of being colonized by Western Europe. Africa is in trouble because their African leaders didn't have the sense to educate themselves in proper management techniques when they took over their Countries. They dumped out Western Europe without realizing that it was Western European practices which made their Countries successful.
And this is where Islam failed. By making everything Western anathema, they have no way to bring Africa or the Middle East or any Country beyond the 8th Century. Where Christianity (and many other faiths) was able to modernize with the times, Islam stagnated in a cesspool.
And therein is the problem, as I see it.
96 million malnourished? Wow, I have never heard that before. Where did you get that stat? I'm very curious to learn more about that.
Honestly, so much of India and China are still impoverished that it doesn't surpirsed me at all that they eat considerably less than we do, especially since we're on the trend towards the obesity.
I don't know how we fix this. It seems like individuals need to step up and start addressing their own obesity issues before the government decides it needs to intervene.
10auntie coosa: keep praying for africa. it's doing a lot of good. people there are dying. who cares why! when there's a natural disaster and people die because the government is corrupt and don't enforce building codes, or dont have infrastructure in place to help, do you say "oh i don't feel bad not helping them - their government is corrupt, so i'm not going to send money or food or donate blood". do you?
keep sucking down your cheese dogs, america. don't worry about it. let someone else solve the problem - or not - who cares, right? UGH i'm thoroughly disgusted by this.
11Well Gluttony with its first cousin Greed driving the get away car is to blame here.
The way Americans in general treat food consumption to me is a sin. With respect to the subject of the article we consume way way more than we should just because we can and what kills me is the astronomical waste of food. We waste just as much if not more than we over consume so that doubles the problem if not triples it.
It is society's responsibility to correct the problem if they are so moved to do so. However, I do not blame our society entirely for finding ourselves in this position. We have been programmed to eat the way we do for the sake of supporting an industry and now only through the good grace of knowledge have we been enlightened to the health and environmental consequences of our actions
12I dont if we actually EAT this much, does this account for how much is thrown out? I'll bet those numbers would go down if we count how much we waste... Thats the real problem.
13sorry, "i don't know" that should say...
14Given that most Indians are vegetarians, there is a glaring exception to the information provided in that article. Vegetables? Legumes? I'm so curious why those weren't compared. That would be a really interesting data point given that most Americans don't eat nearly enough vegetables, but we overconsume so wildly.
I wish they had given a total consumption metric, too. Also would have been interesting. I note that total foodgrain consumption - the one we are five times India at - includes alcohol. So, uh...doing my part to push us up there.
Sorry about that.
Anyhow, these are some rather embarassing and disturbing figures. I would really like to know how much of these discrepancies is due to American overconsumption, how much due to Indian/Chinese poverty, etc...
Has anyone seen a book called Hungry Planet? Fascinating look at consumption country by country.
15Also, I would like some Indian food now - but not too much, I promise.
16Wow Yesteryear.. it's funny how much time you spend commenting on citizensugar while you could be out saving starving children. are you doing anything to help besides being mean to everyone on this website? just sayin...
17that picture is seriously making me hungry.
18afry: i dont have to explain what i do with my time to you or anyone else. i wasn't asking anyone to drop what they are doing right now and take a plane to africa, i'm reacting to the weird malaise that i'm reading in comments here - people saying they deserve to eat as much as they want, people saying we shouldn't help because the governments are corrupt, etc. because this is a discussion about the obscene amount of food we consume/waste as other countries are facing serious shortages and starvation i'm doing what everyone else is - discussing it.
19http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373664,00.html
weekly food expenditures/diets from families around the world.
20People! Please! Let's all discuss this over a nice five course meal at The Olive Garden.
21Growing up in Japan and having traveled to countries in Europe, this is utterly true. From my experience, the portion sizes at American restaurants in general, have significantly larger portion sizes than its first world counterparts. It's a tad ridiculous...
22Pop, I was incorrect. According to the US Dept. of Agriculture in 2006, 12.6 million are living in households considered to be "food insecure". Food insecurity refers to the lack of access to enough food to fully meet basic needs at all times due to lack of financial resources.
23Stiletta I wasn't challenging you - I really was curious.
6 million malnourished children is a lot and it surprised me so I really wanted to learn more about what it meant.
The stat you cited though, you say "12.6 are living in households considered to be 'food insecure'..."
12.6 what? Kids? People? Ants? Kidding.
I have never heard the term "food insecure". It sounds like it's different than malnourished.
24Pop, I didn't think you were challenging me. It's hard to state facts in writing without sounding cold and somewhat uninviting. As for the term "food insecure", it is a term utilized by the Agriculture Dept. because it is a notch above "abject starvation". I used the term malnourished because when a child does not have enough nourishment, that literally means "malnourished". This to my mind fits the definition of "someone who does not have access to enough food to fully meet basic needs at all times".
25See? That sounded very cold and uninviting, but I didn't mean it to be. There should be a key that you could type to exhibit "friendly tone" or "warmth". Computers simply don't have the capacity to communicate with any sense of humanity, but I suspect that's their purpose. My God, I have been on this site for hours! It's so addictive. You are all so smart and passionate. Even the ones who seem like they're insane have such intelligent comments (sometimes). How do you all do it?
26I agree that we Americans are wasteful. That picture is a typical Applebee's-type restaurant amount of food. Seriously, WTF? That is enough food for three or four meals. I can't think of anyone that would be able to shovel that entire meal in one setting. And since many don't like leftovers, an awful lot of these sort of meals see the trash bin as a final destination. All the more reason to cook at home, or learn if you don't know how. It's not rocket science.
27I don't know how many others feel this way, but when I was a kid, going out to eat was a super big deal! You only went out to eat on special occasions, and my mom thought it was expensive and wasteful to order appetizers if we were going to get a whole plate of food to follow. Now, it seems like people go out to eat every day, sometimes more than once. And fuzzles is SO right. Most of the time I can barely eat half of what's on the plate in a restaurant, and I honestly don't like leftovers either! I try my best to ask them to leave off what I know I won't eat. When did people become such restaurant goers? Or was it always that way, and I just grew up in a bubble?
28I think in the late 70s and 80s, as more families started living on two incomes, going or sending out for meals became more common - one because neither adult wanted to come home from work and start cooking and two, because it was a luxury they could now afford.
29Should the US government step in to help equalize what's on the global menu? Absolutely not.
And it's not because I don't care about the other 7 billion people on this planet. I do. But our government needs to focus on us and stop playing world police/world savior. We can donate to relief organizations as Americans and not have our government meddle with geopolitical food problems.
Want to stop starvation in Africa? Let the farmers have heirloom seeds and stop Monsanto from sending genetically modified seeds that cannot be saved and replanted for the next crop. Teach them how to save seeds and replant next season. Education paired with a little aid to start off with is always better than a whole lot of aid that cannot perpetuate itself.
I support organizations that do just that - teach needy people how to become self-sufficient.
As for us as Americans cutting our consumption, I kind of agree with Mondaymoos - we can afford it, so we eat it. I don't think that's insensitive yesteryear, I just think it's factual. We live in a society that is innundated with convenience food - not only boosting grain consumption, but boosting waste as well because everything is individually packaged.
Which leads me to comment portions. I totally agree with fuzzles - when we eat out (which we all do for different reasons - pure luxury, time crunch, laziness, etc.) we get humongous portions! Have you ever tried to order off of the kids menu? They tell you no. Then they make you buy the food that you're not going to eat. I have hated it since I was too old to eat off of the kids menu, but again, it's our 'supersized' way of life as Americans.
And before you go jumping all over my case - this doesn't apply to all Americans, just a lot of us. And stiletta, I don't think you sounded cold at all. hypnoticmix - you make good points, but it's just so hard to fight that industry - we need a coalition to fight the food oligopolies dontcha think?
30I don't know how far our country is in debt now, maybe it's in
the trillions and I don't know why we keep giving billions of
dollars of food away each year while we keep going further into
debt.
I believe in helping people but apparently we can't afford to. We
31have a lot of people in this country who need help too.
American sizes are mostly ridicules. It's the idea the more is better. I prefer quality over quantity and would rather eat less food but healthier and organic or locally produced things.
32And America has the most obese people, so it's not surprising the country consumes the most food.
What I would like to know is what amount of food is thrown away each day (not just in America but in other countries in Europe ect. as well). I suspect if that would be evenly distributed then nobody would go hungry.
I have to strongly disagree that other countries are going hungry just because they are socialist or dictatorships. Of course there is a connection, but for centuries (since colonization) the west has been exploiting the south, and this is still going on today. We talk about freedom and equality, but we don't give it to other countries because our freedom and super sized cheap meals are much more important.
Sorry to offend you "iheartmonster" but I just call it as I see it.
The Catholic Church has numerous programs in Africa which cost the American and African nothing . . . we take care of our Religious orders and they have vowed 'poverty' among other things. If you want all your money to go for a certain cause, give it to Catholic Charities. 100% goes to Africa which is donated to Africa.
But why should the USofA be saddled with saving the world? Point well taken in another post. We're paying interest on money so nicely loaned to us by China, yet China isn't feeding its impoverished and malnourished. Whose fault is that?
If a Nation has a rich ruling class and an impoverished lower class, it's not the USofA's problem to solve with money or food stuffs given to the rulers. THEY have their bellies full.
And remember, money given to the UN is not used for the purpose given. Most of it is skimmed off the top by various political entities, usually rich ruling classes in Third World Countries.
CAPITALISM will follow FREEDOM in nearly all cultures, although it may take a while to become comfortable in some cultures.
You want to make a difference? Write your Congressmen and women and tell them what you think. www.usa.gov will get you to their email addresses.
33Oh, yes, PORTION sizes. If any of you are old enough or have family old enough, ask them the sizes of the original McDonald's hamburger. You know the "dollar buger"? That is about the size of the original. And the Big Mac tasted better back in the '60's, too.
34THIS is why I am so negative about helping other Countries.
http://thepost.com.pk/CityNewsT.aspx?dtlid=159548&catid=3
LAHORE: Reports of poor checks at the wheat procurement centres about weighing the grain is leaving much to be desired by the Punjab food department.
INDIA can't even weigh their own wheat properly, do you think they won't cheat if the USofA gives them wheat or rice or money to buy such?
35UM...Auntie Coosa...Lahore is in Pakistan. Not India.
36When AC gets on a roll, it's best to just to kick up your feet, grab a beer and watch the fun. Don't get hung up on the details.
37Well this is clearly a problem that will only be resolved by allowing the knowledge of the consequences of such a dietary lifestyle to permeate our collective conscience. As conscience is enlightened thus begins the shift and our attitude towards food consumption will hopefully begin to take on some sort of reverence to the costs of production and the consequences of gluttony and waste which will allow us to make better choices for ourselves, our environment and the world.
38That would be a great idea Hypno. Unfortunately, I don't see the current adult generations taking a reverence towards anything but themselves.
39I can't imagine not eating left overs from restraunts or from food I cook at home. Seriously, throwing away food in my house is a huge deal. But I'm also the type of person who sees a spot of mold on 1 piece of bread... and tears that piece off and eats it anyway. Sure, like I said earlier, I buy what I want to eat. It's my money, I earned it, and I'm going to eat what I want. But I HATE being wasteful. If it's in my pantry/fridge, I'm going to eat it.
Well. Except for those random cans that have been in the back of my pantry for 3+ years.
40Wow, yesteryear, that slideshow on Time's website was really eye-opening.
41right on stiletta.
42Change can be fast or slow Undave35 but change is never the less inevitable.
43auntie coosa: your comments are so....i don't even know the english word to describe them...do you even know what is socialism or marxism? an advice: go read a history book or some marx and then you won't look so brainwhashed ...and "So, do I think I should take food out of my puppies' mouths and give it to some dictator or some socialist or marxist? NO."...i don't know if you ever heard about FASCISM but that is it...you are willing to let someone starv to death because of their political views...congrats...and about the catholic church...don't even make me laugh...it's one of the most rich intitutions in the world and it bases their belives in what jesus said, i always thought it included helping the poor instead of personal gains, no matter what...so the hipocrisy it's even more disgusting...have you ever been to vaticano? i'm sorry if i'm being too harsh on you, but your comments really represent what people around the world that hate america think about your country...thank god every american doens't think like you....and please stop critising islam, you cleary don't know what you are talking about
44nd, at last, do you ever heard about climate crisis, natural disasters, and so on...? it also explain food crisis...so your argument it's just....again, i don't know the word to describe it
still about the catholic church...i think it's one of the most irresponsible institutions ever....knowing what's happennig in africa due to HIV and hunger, how can the pope critizise the use of condoms??i will never understand religion
45Change would be nice hypno.
46guys, it is great to think and talk about helping people out... I encourage all of you to go out and practice what you preach! And, if you can find an honest charity that will really give money/food to people that need it, let me know!
47Here is information about the "world food crisis" as outlined on the bbc webiste.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/world/2008/costoffood/default.stm
it is mostly facts and figures but it gives you an overall picture of what is going on.
48and i think ultimately whatever we think about u.s. consumption when compared to the rest of the world, because of the
overall world supply/demand equation, at some point prices will go up for us too. you may already notice it in the grocery stores and some restaurants.
that is why i think some folks are pushing local/communal acquisition of food.
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