Week 7

Week 7: What the World Eats by Faith D’Aluisio

Book Summary:

What the World Eats explores the foods consumed by people around the world. Photographs of families with the food they eat in one week are provided along with how much they spend and where they buy it. Charts illustrating life expectancy, number of fast food restraunts per person, and obesity rates give further insight into the health and economic development of a country.

My Impressions: What the World Eats is one of most fascinating books I have encountered. There are endless opportunities for inferencing just by looking at the photographs. One can determine the wealth and availability of food in a country, determine the geographical location of a family based on available food, and determine if the family grows its own food or purchases it from a grocery store.

Professional Review:

“this brilliantly executed work visits 25 families in 21 countries around the world. Each family is photographed surrounded by a week's worth of food and groceries, which Menzel and D'Aluisio use as a way of investigating not only different cultures' diets and standard of living but also the impact of globalization… A wealth of supporting information—lush color photographs, family recipes, maps, sidebars, etc.—surrounds the text (superb design accomplishes this job harmoniously) and implies questions about global food supplies.” From Publishers Weekly

Library Uses:

Book Talk: Use What the World Eats, Material World, How People Live, and A life Like Mine.

Reference: 

D’Aluisio, F. (2008). What the world eats. New York, NY: Tricycle Press.

Children’s review. (2008, September 1). [Review of the book What the world eats, by F. D'Aluisio].

Publishers Weekly. Retrieved at http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-58246-246-2.