What the World Eats- II

Somehow I missed this little fact, but this book says that in the year 2000 the World Watch Institute reported that for the first time there were just as many overfed people on the planet as there were underfed. This surprised me. Hunger organizations relentlessly show us videos and photos of starving adults and children— so naturally I believe that there are a lot of underfed people in the world.

Overfed people are not on my radar screen-- probably because they aren’t on TV or in movies because they aren’t considered beautiful enough for Hollywood. Personally, the only times I view the obese populace are when I attend a county fair and see chunky people waiting in line for corn dogs and funnel cakes; or when I am at a national park accosted by pudgy moms, dads, and children spilling out of their RV’s (and tight clothing) munching on bags of Cheetos.

Many of the countries represented in What the World Eats have a high percentage of their population living on less than $2 a day.
o Almost half of China lives on less than $2 a day.
o India has 80% of its people living on less than $2 a day. This stat is exacerbated by the mere fact that the population of India is well over 1 billion, so right there we have $800 million people living on next to nothing.
o African countries fare worse. Mali, in northwestern Africa, has 91% of their people living on less than $2 a day.

Two dollars will barely buy a Happy Meal in America. Speaking of which, let’s see approximately how many McDonald’s are to be found world-wide:

Australia- 726 (kind of scary considering that there are what, about 5 big cities in Australia?)
China- over 600 (but China is so big and spread out you can't find them)
France- 973 (France isn't that much bigger than California)
Great Britain- 1,100 (gamely closely the gap on the Americans)
India- 46 (even though they can't serve beef)
Japan- 3,891 (I wonder if their fish sandwiches outsell their quarter pounders?)
United States- 13,491 (the big winner, er.. loser!)

It would be picking on America for me to post a photo of the poorest country in the book and compare it to a photo of one of the American families in the book. I’m here to tell you that the three American families represented here don’t stand out as being the only ones with big piles of food. You should see the photos of Great Britain (that family likes their biscuits), or Kuwait (that family likes their candy bars), or Australia (there must be 60 lbs of meat on their table). Obese Americans are a convenient target, but the scary truth— as the World Watch Institute has reported— is that world-wide, the numbers of overfed people are quickly on the rise.