Who would you most like to eat with?

direct link to image: http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/7791/families500x6603.jpg

The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna

The Melander family of Bargteheide please!

Fuck, I skipped the Dong family of Beijing and their delicious fried shredded pork. Sorry, guys.

The Melander family of Bargteheide. mmm weißbier

mayonaise sandwich????

that's what I said

disgusting savages

they grow avocados in england?

The Ayme family of Tingo seem like the vegetarian-friendly choice, although the Namgay family of Shingkhey Village look like the most interesting experience.

write-in vote for shredded fried Dong with sweet and sour sauce

Italy or Mexico should win but I don't want to eat Italian fish sticks or Mexican pasta, nor do I want to have to help drink 12 liters of Mexican coke. Dong family all the way.

IME if the Dong is spending 1300 CNY a week on food they must be seriously eating well. 1300 CNY would be enough to eat out twice a day for a family of four for a week in Beijing. (wow that's a lot of prepositional phrases)

also wondering how much the germans' food bill would be if they cut all out that beer

Anybody but the British family.

holy crap - i missed the germans and all their beer! -1 vote for Sicily +1 for Beergteheide!

pretty intrigued by the idea of mexican pasta actually

fideooooo

casting my lot with the potato+cabbage soup

Casales or Manzo, tough choice

I'm going by the immediate visual impact of the spread they have around them, and based on that, the Revis family of North Carolina are building some kind of Romper Room of food. I went off the other day about how much I hate sprinkles (or jimmies, depending on where you're from in the US) and how they make anything they're on look both tacky and toxic. The Revis family are all about sprinkles. Compared to everyone else, their food is just horrifying.

I think I'm going with the Dang family in China, even though they have a whole assload of Coke stacked up there. I don't want that so much, but it does seem to be a running theme through all of these pictures -- where there's plenty of food, there's plenty of junk food. Or else there's not really enough food.

Casales is my second choice. I went back and forth on those two.

I think I'm going with the Kuwaitis myself.

Oh and of course I would pick the one family not included in the poll options.

write-ins accepted

*bows graciously*

I think I'm going with the Dang family in China

of all the people to not correctly spell Dong...

voted kuwait

Dang was a typo. I noticed it, but thought it unnecessary to correct, because it was so obviously a typo. Thank you for showing me the light.

Ahmeds in Cairo look most similar to my grocery take. I love North African in general, but Egyptian is really amazing.

"The Bainton family of Clingbourne Ducis"

Mayo sandwiches?!?!?!

Mayo sandwiches?!?!?!

hahaha, this is totally a done thing in the Deep South.

what are in all the containers behind the Chad family?

"hahaha, this is totally a done thing in the Deep South."

Doesn't make it less blech really.

Fair enough.

Alex, you need to get your wife to whip you up some of that action.

The brit table is the only one more disgusting than US ones.

Cairo table does look good.

what are in all the containers behind the Chad family?

My guess would be drinking water.

I have the book these are taken from: it is very, very awesome. It provides a lot more information, like the nutritional intake of these families. Recipes, too. I highly, highly recommend it:

Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by
Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio

<img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KGa267IaL._SL500_AA300_.jpg";> This is also grebt.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KGa267IaL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna

None of them look particularly vegetarian friendly, but I'm definitely going with the Namgay family coz they have the best looking kitchen.

I keep getting distracted by the Revis family's pizza, though. I want to be healthy and all, but every time I scroll past them, they're all "LOOK! WE HAVE PIZZA!" and I totally want a slice.

I really like the ladder of chips in the Revis picture - crisp your way to heaven

"The Bainton family of Clingbourne Ducis"

Mayo sandwiches?!?!?!

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Friday, July 16, 2010 8:42 PM (49 minutes ago) Bookmark

dude, they're French people. Mayonnaise is like water.

I'm amazed by how horrible diets are around the world. So much fucking soda.

like the mexican family--- this looks like a nice spread... HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS DRINK THAT MUCH SODA IN A WEEK?

"dude, they're French people. Mayonnaise is like water."

I thought they were British.

I would vote for the Indian family in the book.

I wouldn't mind eating at any of these places (including the Brit one - they got bread and marmite, a bottle of wine, some fruit, that'll do me) but if I had to choose, I'd go with the Germans.

xp - they are British - and I have never met a Brit who ate mayo sandwiches. But, you know, there's bound to be one family.

"dude, they're French people. Mayonnaise is like water."

I thought they were British.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Friday, July 16, 2010 9:45 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

Ah ok, I see the pounds. Still, they're probably French immigrants right? The Bainton family.

But British people are mayo addicts too.

I voted for Ukita by mistake, but I'm gonna go with the Ahmeds. They have all sorts of delicious looking vegetables and potatoes and tomatoes and meat and fruit.

The photo of the Namgay family of Shinkhey Village is pretty gorgeous, and they look like they're eating crazy well for 5.00 week.

Also, do the Baintons really buy that much candy every week?

I like the balance of the Dong family's diet.

yeah I wasn't aware that soda was consumed as heavily in non-US countries as it appears in these photos. wonder if its backed up by stats...

shoutout to the batsuuri family

But British people are mayo addicts too.

Not on it's own though, surely?

Looking at the pic in the book, there isn't any marmite but there is some nice soup.

Mexican sweet tooth is legendary.

You can tell by the home decorating of the British family that the food will suck, and be from 1978.

Depressing thing is they shop at Waitrose (according to the book) so it's not like they haven't seen some decent stuff.

Indeed those are Waitrose pizzas and flans in the corner so they prolly not too bad. Also they eat a full English for breakfast so I'm going round there for breakfast tomorrow.

None of them look particularly vegetarian friendly

See, that's why the Indian family should be there, the Patkars are veggies.
http://bentlyr.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/india-patkars-family.jpg

yeah I wasn't aware that soda was consumed as heavily in non-US countries as it appears in these photos. wonder if its backed up by stats...

― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Friday, July 16, 2010 5:59 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark

maybe the difference is that you cant' get a 64 ounce coke for a dollar when you eat out

Gut reaction is to go with the Manzos, but the hot dogs/fish sticks are throwing me. Maybe if the grandparents were cooking?

(voted for the Dong family)

shit, they aren't listed!

Also the Patkars have gulab jamon.

Say what you want about farmer's markets but the most glaring contrast in my eyes is the rampant packaging nightmare that is more prevalent in the US/UK/Japan kitchens. Where is the food!

Oh it's been concentrated, processed, re-processed, packagaed, shrink-wrapped, cellowrapped, and we'll stick a stupid big primary colored brand logo or cartoon character on it for ya!

The Poles's stuff isn't half bad, actually, but I'm pretty suspicious of too much Eastern European cooking. I voted for the Namgays, partly out of curiosity. The Manzos look seriously underwhlming for an Italian family, culinarily at least. I bet the Dongs have good dinners and I'd totally be down to eating with the Ahmeds.

Also, I'd bet the US eats more mayo per capita than the French do.

The Ahmed or the Aime families look like the only good options for a vegetarian. Gonna go with the Ahmeds, even though they have some meat on their table, the selection of veggies looks tasty.

This may be the first and last time Collingbourne Ducis is ever mentioned on ILX, so I just wanted to enjoy that

(is a village on the journey from my parents' house to my grandparents')

The Ahmeds' table does look pretty good but I cd really go for a chicken biryani right now so maybe I'll turn up in Kuwait City asking for the Al Haggans

misread as who would you most like to eat

wkiw all these families
voted batsuuri tho

shasta OTM, I was going to rag on the japanese family but felt it was too easy

dear mods of ilx

following this exchange between me, myself, and I — New: "I Love Mutton" — would it be possible to create an 'i love mutton board', de-indexed, maybe initially with myself as moderator?

much obliged

lbj otm too, if I were an unresigned meat eater I would totally go there. mongolian mutton is to die for

Polish votes are for the daughter, and Chad votes are for, erm well, i'm not quite sure.

would have voted dong fam, voting ukita fam instead.

was gonna vote dong fam, voted ukita instead

Man, the Patkars' food looks tasty, plus Indian veggie is pretty much the tastiest veggie in the world - also OMG LOOKIT THE SIZE OF THEIR TEA KETTLE = I would be very happy drinking all of their tea, much happier to drink tea than all the crazy soda those other families drink.

Where the hell is Clingbourne Ducis? UK very poorly represented here.

The Ecuadorians look like a fun bunch.

The Al Haggan family of Kuwait City ftw

Collingbourne Ducis (must be the same one, the o is missing but there are two ls) is a small village between Swindon and Salisbury. I don't recall it having a shop. The nearest shop is probably a Spar in a small army town 5 miles away. If their shopping has Waitrose logos as Ned T says it was probably bought in Marlborough, a twee and expensive Cotswold market town (home to the posh boys' school Nick Drake and, uh, Chris deBurgh went to) 15 miles away.

Wait, I am thinking way too much about Collingbourne Ducis now.

The Cutty family of Bedford-Stuyvesant

Cutty's Mom Hot or Really Hot

voted ukita

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

6 votes for the Dongs by my count

IME if the Dong is spending 1300 CNY a week on food they must be seriously eating well. 1300 CNY would be enough to eat out twice a day for a family of four for a week in Beijing.

^^^^OTM