What does mankind eat today?

800 calories of porridge with sweetened milky tea make up one woman’s two meals a day. Another woman eats more than 12,000 calories in one day, in the course of seven meals and snacks mainly composed of processed food. These two numbers summarise the polarity of everyday eating habits. Now an American photographer’s portraits of these two women have brought these figures to life. The first woman is the wife of a Masai chief, surrounded by her cows in her native Kenya. The other is a working class English woman at her kitchen table. Each presents the typical food she eats in a day. Peter Menzel extended this project over several years and across all continents. His 80 photographs portray the abundance and shortage, the diversity and simplicity of the human diet better than statistics ever can.

 

Noolkisaruni Tarakuai, the third wife of the Maasai chief, Kenya 800 calories. © Peter Menzel/Cosmos photos

Ruma Akhter, Seamstress, Bangladesh – 1,800 Calories © Peter Menzel/Cosmos photos
 

Leland Melvin, NASA Astronaut, Outer Space – 2,700 Calories © Peter Menzel/Cosmos photos
 

Ahmed Ahmed Swaid, Qat Merchant, Yemen – 3,300 Calories  © Peter Menzel/Cosmos photos
 

Maria Ermelinda Ayme Sichigalo, Mother of Eight, Ecuador – 3,800 Calories © Peter Menzel/Cosmos photos
 

Conrad Tolby, Truck Driver, Illinois– 5,400 Calories © Peter Menzel/Cosmos photos