What the World Eats by Faith D’Aluisio and Peter Menzel.

I dare you to pick up this book and not be captivated.  Through photographs, fascinating statistics and humanizing essays, readers get a glimpse of what people in different countries eat each week.  Every entry in the book begins with a photograph of a single family surrounded by the food they would normally consume in a single week.  Then the foods are categorized and listed, and that family’s lifestyle is examined in detail as well.  Small details of their lives are shared and those lend the greatest insight into the similarities and differences between cultures.  Using the vehicle of food, our world is revealed in intimate and loving detail.

Menzel’s photographs are vivid, striking and clear.  He not only photographs families and food, but often reveals the inner spirit of the subjects as well.  There is a story in every photograph that goes beyond meals.  The differences between cultures is staggering, just as it should be.  This is the type of book that American children need to be exposed to, to see beyond the consumerism that surrounds them and into the lives of others who share our planet.  The wonder of the book is that it is all managed without lectures, rather it is left up to the reader themselves to draw their own conclusions. 

I savored this book, reading about just a few families and then setting it aside so that it wouldn’t disappear too quickly.  It is a great book to have available in a classroom where children can peruse it and discuss it.   Highly recommended, it is appropriate for ages 9-15.