For a couple of years, a photo essay titled: Hungry Planet by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio has been circulating on social media. In this collection of pictures (which is only a partial collection from a much larger book on the subject), Menzel and D’Aluisio document the global pantry and attempts to question local consumption patterns.
The juxtaposition of the consumption patterns between families in different parts of the world aims to present ideas of wealth, nutrition, and eating habits as neutral for the viewer. However, without an explanation on the way families, and for that matter countries, were chosen or the amount of caloric intake per household, the comparison is ripe for stereotypical commentaries.