World’s Dining Table

We often overlook what people around the world eat.
Understanding this may be the key to unravelling the threads
that connect humanity and life itself.
Photography by Peter Menzel

The images here, by American journalist couple Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio from their “Material World” project, portray families and their dining tables from around the world. They capture the current state of “eating,” the oldest and most fundamental act, from the perspectives of “family” and “globalism.” Peter felt a strong connection with our pavilion’s concept and agreed to collaborate with us.

*The explanatory text refers to information published in “Chikyu no Shokutaku Sekai 24 Kakoku no Kazoku no Gohan” (Author: Peter Menzel + Faith Daluzio; Translator: Machiko Mitsuji; Published by TOTO Publishing, May 2006).

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia / The Batsuuri family

When shopping for food in the enormous central wholesale market in the frigid capital of Ulaanbaatar, it is impossible to forget that red meat is essential to the Mongolian diet. This family originally lived in a “ger” (a round mobile tent), but they are now living in a small room that has running water and share a freezer, refrigerator, and kitchen with two other families. Even though their living space is smaller than the ger, they no longer need to travel up and down steep hills, carrying buckets of water. Now they are happy with the way they live, with their indoor bathroom and electric stovetop.

Shingkhey village on Bhutan / The Namgay family

The 13 members of the Namgay family live in the remote hillside village of Shinka. Most of the homes in this village are three stories tall and made out of kneaded clay. The family uses a clay oven, which is placed directly on the clay floor, to cook home-grown red rice, grains, chilis, and other vegetables day after day. As Buddhists, they do not eat meat except during special periods such as Buddhist puja ceremonies. The average Bhutanese person consumes 3.3 kg of meat per year. They preserve meat and fish by letting them dry naturally. They get their protein from butter, whey, and cheese from the milk of domesticated cows. The village has no fast food restaurants.

Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India / The Patkar family

Being Hindus and Brahmin, the highest social caste, the Patkar family does not eat meat or fish. 15-year-old Akshay is not too keen on gourd-family vegetables or pumpkins but reluctantly follows family rules. That said, the family’s absolute favorites are actually the quick meals that can be found at thousands of street booths across the country. Tightly packed together, these booths sell a wide variety of spicy chickpea curries with naan, aromatic crepe-like dosas, yogurt-drink lassis, and chai tea. India has many regional cuisines across the country but the borders between the regions are gradually disappearing with the passage of time.

Weitaiwu village, Beijing Province / The Cui family

In this agricultural district people still maintain the tradition of bartering goods and labor. They grow vegetables on government-allotted land, but the harvest does not even make up 10% of the food the family of six need per year. They make up for this shortfall with their son’s earnings, who is temporarily working in Beijing. Most villagers still eat traditional foods but younger generations are increasingly opting for gourmet foods like butter cakes, and this is affecting how the villagers eat.

Brisbane, east coast on Australia / The Molloy family

In Australia, the most common breakfast is Vegemite on toast. People spread the salty, aromatic Vegemite, which is made from fermented vegetables, on toast and top it with cheese and avocado. Being a multicultural nation, Australia’s diet is diverse. People enjoy eating fresh lobster and fish, which are caught in abundance off the shores of Melbourne, as well as other ethnic foods. On hot and humid summer days, many families can be seen enjoying relaxing meals on terraces in their backyards.

Kuwait city, Kuwait / The Al Haggan family

The Al Haggan family dinner table is laden with an abundance of food, brought to the country by the petroleum trade. Because Kuwait lacks both land and water, it imports most of its food. 98% of the wide variety of food in Kuwait’s Western-style supermarkets is imported, of good quality, and affordable. Employment, insurance, education, housing, and even some grocery stores are all subsidized by the government. Workers are mostly from other countries, and the government actively promotes women’s employment. The Al Haggan family also employs two Nepalese maids to work in their elevator-equipped home.

Breidjing Refugee Camp in Eastern Chad / The Aboubakar family of Darfur province, Sudan.

The Aboubakar family of six live in a refugee camp in eastern Chad. The grains and starch they eat are rationed. For every meal, they eat Aiysh, a baked porridge made from a grain in the rice family, and a light soup made from cooked tomato. Regardless of age, each person gets one 2,100 kcal ration per day – a ration that does not satisfy the lowest energy recommendation for a 16-year-old. The 310 liters of water, which is also rationed, is for both drinking and other uses. In refugee camps, people rarely get the chance to eat fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, or dairy products.

Village Kouakourou,Mali / The Natomo family

This image shows the Natomo family atop the roof of a house made of dried, desert-colored mud bricks. Breakfast for the husband and his wives is started by making a log fire in the courtyard of the house. They eat “Tô,” a millet porridge cooked in a saucepan with soup and sauce. Sometimes they eat a porridge of smoked millet, fermented milk, and coconut, and sometimes they have smoked fish and a tomato stew.

They get water to use at home from a communal well and drink sour or fermented milk for their dairy intake. When asked what they like to eat, they replied that they have never even thought about it.

Zutphen town, Netherland / The Leussink family

The Leusinks are having a lunch typically found throughout the Netherlands: sandwiches made with every spread imaginable including peanut butter, jam, Nutella (sweet nut-flavored spread), and the most popular – sprinkled sugar. The Netherlands also boasts a wide range of cheeses. The parents give their growing children a semi-hard cheese with a water content of 48%, but being more health-conscious, the parents themselves have switched to a hard cheese with a water content of 30% and no longer put Coca-Cola or extra chocolate out on the table.

Cap Hope village, Greenland / The Madsen family

The Madsens live in Kap Hope, a village approximately 440 km north of the Arctic Circle. Kap Hope has a population of less than 700 and no fresh grocery stores, nor even roads, so residents must travel two hours by dog sled to the national supermarket in the small town of Ittoqqortoormiit (commonly known as “Ittoqq”). In summer, food is delivered to Ittoqq by boat from a town 800 km away, and by plane or snowmobile during the rest of the year. Game meats include Arctic goose, polar bear, musk ox, and common murre. When the family catches a seal, their favorite, they share the meat with their dogs and sell the fur after drying it.

Paris suburb of Montreuil, France / The Le Moine family

The French megamarket Auchan opened in this town and attracts people to do their daily shopping with its convenience and affordability. Meanwhile, this has led to the disappearance of traditional specialty stores that were slightly more expensive but offered high-quality pastries, meats, and cheeses. Furthermore, as France has welcomed more immigrants, food has become more diverse, as has French people’s preferences. In this family, the mother always wishes that she could cook elaborate French dishes, but being too busy, she cannot help but opt for cheap and convenient American fast food.

Collinghourne Ducis, Wiltshire, Great Britain / The Bainton family

The Baintons live in this small village, known for the world-heritage Stonehenge’s Avebury Stone Circle. On the weekends, they drive down idyllic, meadow-lined roads and through small villages to do a week’s shopping at the esteemed high-end supermarket, Waitrose, which is housed in a modern building in the town of Marlborough. They pack their baskets with frozen pizzas, cartons of juice, and instant foods. On busy weekdays, their breakfast is simple and consists of just cereal, which they can make without even turning on the stove, but on weekends, the whole family gets involved in making a warm English breakfast.

Suburban Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A. / The Revis family

Many Americans think a healthy diet is important, but sticking to one seems difficult. It is especially hard for the super-busy Revis family, who are raising two growing children. They started going to the gym to shed the weight they had gained from eating fast food for lunch five times a week, but this left them with even less time to cook, so they ended up eating even more fast food and falling deeper into a negative cycle. They have now reassessed their diet, are using their time more wisely, and have started exercising at home.

Cuernavaca suburb, Mexico / The Casales family

When a large U.S.-based supermarket opened nearby, the Casales family decided to close their family-owned convenience store. Lifestyle changes altered their diet, and the Casales children started to eat processed snacks and sweets like potato chips and candy. Fresh fruits and vegetables began to disappear from the dinner table, and Coca-Cola became the drink of choice. Due to overeating and lack of exercise, 65% of Mexico’s population is obese, and this number is only increasing.
(Changing nutrition) The seafood shown in the image includes crab, tilapia, and catfish.

Tingo village, Ecuador, a village in the central Andes / The Ayme family

In this highland area, far from Ecuador’s tropical lowlands situated exactly on the equator, the land is dry and does not provide enough food for the Ayme family. Nevertheless, despite the harsh climate, the family is able to subsist most of the year on potatoes, oca (potato-like tubers), corn, wheat, broad beans, onions, etc., which they harvest from their fields. While they get their animal protein from cuys (guinea pigs) and chicken, though only a few times a year, the liter of fresh milk that they receive daily from their domesticated cows provides valuable nutrition.

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*This text refers to “Hungry Planet: What the World Eats” (authors Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio, translation by Machiko Mitsuji, published by TOTO Publishing).

Collaboration
Photographs by Peter MENZEL (photojournalist)

Audio guide narrator：SHOJI Mai