your favorite food? Oxfam a UK-based charity group, posed that question to 16,000 people from 17
countries to find out what the world is eating. The results, Oxfam says,
illustrate how countries are coping with globalization, inflation, and food
availability. America's favorite food? Pizza!
behind pizza in the top ten list of America's favorite foods are: Steak,
chicken, Mexican, pasta, Italian, seafood, burger, ice cream and sushi. To
compare, the global top ten list of favorite foods: Pasta, meat, rice, pizza,
chicken, seafood, vegetables, Chinese, Italian, and Mexican. The only country
to like vegetables the most was Pakistan.
the only country to like a sweet the most was Australia who chose chocolate. Showing
the effects of globalization, only a few countries chose items or categories
that would be deemed to be their native food. Spain chose paella, India chose
Indian, and Mexico chose Mexican. Tanzania, Ghana, and Kenya chose all foods
that are of their traditional diet rather than just their top food.
organization also surveyed people about their eating habits, whether they had
changed, and if so, why? Over half of those surveyed said that they were not
eating the same foods that they were eating two years ago. The reasons why
varied. The most common reason cited for dietary change was the cost of food;
39% of those polled answered that the rising cost of food due to primarily
weather, oil/transport or consumer demand, was the main reason they were eating
differently. The next popular reason for change was a concern with how
nutritious or healthy the food was; 33% of all polled answered that this was
their primary concern. For the US, health concerns trumped food costs; 37% changed their diet because of nutrition and 24% changed due to the price of food.
of the most dramatic findings was the percentage of people for whom getting
enough food was a concern. In its conclusions, Oxfam reports that, "a clear divide is apparent between developed and
developing nations in reported levels of hunger. While large majorities of the
citizens of the developed countries polled report always having enough to eat,
in some developing nations - Mexico and Pakistan among them - those who say
they do not always have enough sustenance are in the majority, and in Kenya and
Tanzania only around a quarter say they always have enough to eat."
full report here to see the results, methods and conclusions.