While clicking through the slide of each photo within the Hungry Planet gallery, I instantly felt a sense of sadness and even shame when I stumbled across the photo of the Aboubakar family from Eastern Chad. Their weeks’ worth of food supply was practically less than what my two-person household consumes on a daily basis. There were no processed or packaged foods to be seen, their diet consisted of mainly grains, rice, and a small amount of what appeared to be fruit. They prepared their food by using a wood fire and preserved their food with the method of natural drying (Menzel). I currently have a dehydrator in my pantry, so it was eye-opening to realize how much of a luxury that actually is. The living conditions of the Aboubakar family were extremely poor, the photograph showing them in a dessert-like climate with a small tent as a home. The family was clothed in dirty drapes, the children were very skinny, and their water was held in filthy cans. To say their living conditions were poor is an understatement.
I have to admit I was slightly nervous to come across the American example when I continued looking through the photos. I already knew it would be full of processed foods and an excessive number of various items. Indeed, the featured family, The Caven’s, from American Canyon, California had enough food to feed a small army. Their food consisted of primarily processed, store bought foods with common brand names. The meat was packaged, the green pees were frozen, the eggs were in a carton, and the bananas had labels on them. Rather than growing their food in a garden or having to hunt for it, they simply stop by their local grocer to stock up on all their food needs for the week. Being a family that resides in a super power country, their methods of preparing the food consisted of using an electric stove, a microwave, and an outdoor BBQ. In order to preserve their food, they had their nice, spacious home equipped with a refrigerator and freezer.
When comparing these two places, I wonder to myself, “How can we live in a world where there are families barely surviving while other families have enough food to last them a year?”. Unfortunately, globalization and free trade has not positively affected every country. Developing nations have been neglected and suffered greatly while first world countries have thrived. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) have significantly impacted these two countries, yet in very opposite ways. The developing countries have found themselves underrepresented or not represented at all during major national trade agreements and policy changes, which has left them poverty-stricken and in the dark without a voice. The photos of the family living in Chad and the California family show stark difference, yet they show reality and what is occurring in our world on a daily basis. The greed and power hungry politicians and powerful leaders of the world have created a system that does not benefit everyone and have completely left out a large portion of the world’s population, making it extremely difficult for them to survive.