Why do Americans think they deserve to eat more than Indians?

This is flawed logic and its offensive that anyone seriously suggests that we curtail our food consumption to directly offset a country's population that is wildly out of control.

While agree that there is an absurd level of obesity in the US, we are not bound by a duty (ascribed to us by a foreign country) to apportion our arable land for production of crops to solve their problems. Yes, this is a capitalistic view, but it is as they say 'how the world works' in a global economy.

I'm a little confused about how Bush's statement confers to India that Americans feel they "deserve" more food? Americans eat more, not because they feel they "deserve" more but because there has historically been more than enough available to feed diverse appetites at low prices.

The quote above simply suggests that Indians now want a more diverse diet too. It's not an indictment against them. Just because Bush is off on his reason for higher food prices doesn't, for a change, make his statement about India completely inaccurate. If you can afford more nutritious food why wouldn't you buy it? And while this might not be the sole reason for food prices being high, I don't think we can ignore that the expansion of middle class in China and India affects the cost of oil and other goods which in turn affects food prices.

I find the charge that Americans going on a diet is going to solve global hunger, just ridiculous. Hunger doesn't exist because America is eating the rest of the world out of house and home. It exists because of bad policy.

Why are they appalled? He simply stated a known truth. We don't think we deserve more food, we just have more money to buy food. India is gaining wealth and therefore will probably spend more on food in the future. We have more money to spend on second homes, too. As Indians get wealthier, they'll buy more of those, too.

Let's make a mountain out of a molehill, shall we?

The problem is NOT, I repeat, NOT production. The US eating less food will not magically make the food appear on plates in other countries. The problem is DISTRIBUTION (of wealth and food).

There is already more than enough food grown in the world to feed every single person on this planet, the problem is governments and militias in countries that have people starving cannot provide proper education, distribution or outright prevent those people from receiving the food they need.

This doesn't deflect the fact that the US is a pretty gluttonous country when it comes to consumption of pretty much everything, I don't see why food would be any different. Also, the corn on there is mostly turned into everyone's favorite chemically altered substitute for sugar, high fructose corn syrup. It's nigh impossible to make this stuff out of factory conditions (i.e. in the wild) in the quantities you'll find in American food (even bread).

While I'm all for promoting poverty awareness, please do not compare two related areas without direct inference that one is causing another's problem as is NOT the case here. A more accurate comparison would be the money that Americans WASTE on food (i.e. food thrown out, 25%) could be used to fuel the transport and education of food to areas that desperately need it.

Yet another argument for eating locally. Why in the world do I need rice from India when there is rice growing one state over? Now, I know that a state away isn't technically "local" -- but compared to india it certainly is. If we didn't need to have our food shipped there and their food shipped here then it would naturally distribute to those areas where the demand is.

and also - if we'd stop futzing with the way plants grow/are harvested/etc we'd stop having such wide-scale outbreaks of e.coli and the like.

I agree with the above commenters... this headline is ridiculous, as is the alleged Indian response.

And the idea cannot be emphasized enough: the problem is not production: it is distribution, and corrupt governments that utilize food distribution, and even food aid, as a weapon/tool. Unfortunately, the recent situation regarding hurrican relief is now Exhibit A. The food is there. The government just doesn't want it distributed, unless they can use it for propaganda.

It seems to me that the issues at hand in America are *waste*, *entitlement*, subsides for political gain not for capitalism or the common good . . .

While I agree that it is silly to be so offended by the remarks of our President (in this case) I can also agree that Americans do contribute to the world wide food shortages.

I would personally think here rather than "Why do Americans think they deserve to eat more than Indians?" the question should be "Why would Indians want to eat like Americans?"

Out of all the things your average Indian could aspire to... the eating habits of the average American surely isn't a good one???

I agree that the problem lies in the distribution of goods throughout the world. There is no food shortage but big corporations and governments have chosen to distribute food to those who are able to pay more for it. Also, the beef industry in the US and Europe does tend to waste large portions of land and energy that could be used for farming. The thousands of acres of land and millions of pounds of wheat consumed by cattle could be used to feed humans. There is absolutely NO REASON why anyone in this entire world should be malnurished or starving. Corporations/government will charge more if they are able to get away with it. Look at the oil industry...there is no oil shortage (do NOT believe what they tell you) but we all DEPEND on oil. Therefore, if they raise the prices we have no choice but to pay up. It's the same with food. It is all about greed, people. Don't believe a word they say.

Indians, please don't sweat our President. He is an idiot and should be treated as such. Other than that, it's true: We eat too much corn and corn products. High Frutcose Corn Syrup is in nearly everything we eat.

Mr. Alter,

Expanding a bit on what Marsha said, it seems to me that you took what Bush said and then spun it in such a way as to make it, and him, seem as evil as possible. And how many Americans have you actually met "who think that the rest of the world has too many people and that they are getting to be too middle class"?

Yes (duh) the rest of the world has a lot of people and many of them are becoming middle class. Wonderful, I would say, if that means that more people are gaining access to safe drinking water and aren't going to bed hungry. If that means that more people are competing with us for resources, then such is the reality of things. But I have NEVER heard anyone except for population-control-obsessed hard-core leftists complaining about how many people live in the rest of the world, much less lamenting that their conditions are improving.

you know ,the reason most people eat 3,000 calories per day is because they are POOR. We are the only nation with impoverished fat people. That's because 1 package of Ramen noodles has 800 calories and boxed macaroni and chees isnt any better. But that's what we can afford.
We don't create enough food for everyone because of the amount of low yield food produced here. It takes12,000 gallons of water to make one pound of beef. I wonder how much corn or other edible grains it takes.
People in the U.S. may be fat but they are undernourished because of the cheap non nutritious crap they eat. Oh well. Take a vitamin and call me in the morning.

I think the article, and the Indian response to Mr. Bush's comments, are right on.

Dear Leader said that the problem with food prices in the US is that the growing Indian middle class wants to eat more food. In other words, the pain we feel at home can't be the result of our choices -- to invade a major middle-eastern oil producer, to divert trillions of dollars that could be used for education, health care, infrastructure, greening all government buildings, building solar electric plants, encouraging electric cars instead of pumping up the hydrogen fuel cell boondoggle -- it has to be the result of some benighted foreign county.

The biggest problem facing the planet in my opinion is overpopulation. Maybe if more people kept their legs shut, there'd be enough food to go around.

I agree with Gerald! Please, please, all of you intelligent friendly eco-aware non-Americans out there -- PLEASE do not take anything that man says as speaking for all of us Americans. There is a reason he has a 20% approval rating and there is also a reason why, even in a red state, I constantly see bumper stickers promoting 1.20.09 (inauguration day for our next president) as the "End of an Error."

I agree with Gerald! Please, please, all of you intelligent friendly eco-aware non-Americans out there -- PLEASE do not take anything that man says as speaking for all of us Americans. There is a reason he has a 20% approval rating and there is also a reason why, even in a red state, I constantly see bumper stickers promoting 1.20.09 (inauguration day for our next president) as the "End of an Error."

fisht nailed it on the head. *I* don't even want to eat like Americans.

And Gerald- in addition to contributing to the "corn-crisis" - HFCS contributes to Hypo-Glycemia and other diabetic-type illnesses. I'm systematically removing it from our home (it's in the ketchup, but as soon as the ketchup's gone...) Mexican Coke (not local, but I'm Texas so it's close) and Dublin Dr Pepper (from Dublin Tx) are both made using cane-suger and NOT HFCS. For an example.

C'mon people, are you really surprised it is being interpreted that way? US Policy is based on "If we want it, we'll buy it", recently supplemented with "and if we can't buy it, we'll take it by force".
But when that plan backfires (low dollar and low political credibility) suddenly the Indians are to blame.
Dear mr Bush has always had a knack for simple explanations :-)

This is an insulting, semantically loaded question. So I feel free to ask a few of my own.

Why do Indians think they deserve to eat more than people in Somalia or Ethiopia?

How much has India donated to these famine-stricken regions?

Who gives away more food and money to fight hunger than any other country in the world?

Why do some Indians deserve to sleep in beds, under a roof, while others sleep on the street?

This article confirms that Lloyd Alter is the most counterproductive
"treehugger" on this site. Keep spewing the hate and Kunstler love, Lloyd!

this is a totally appropriate story, and the indignant comments are pretty telling. even people who generally read treehugger and presumably are somewhat environmentally-conscious still would rather not acknowledge that the key primary cause of environmental problems is overconsumption and control of resources by global north countries, especially the US.

Without wishing to be harsh, if an area is not capable of supporting a population, should it be populated? Climate change both natural and manmade has affected humanity since day one. Many civilisations have risen and fallen (e.g Egyptian) as a result. It is foolhardy to try and fight that (though it would help if we reduced our own contribution). Sacks of UN grain don't make rain. Handouts are not a sustainable solution.

World hunger would not be solved if material resources were distributed better, but if knowledge were distributed better. If the land in these countries were managed sustainably, as (in general) they had been before people got tied into mostly inappropriate western style agriculture and warring dictators not interferred (such as Mugabe - here is an example of one man who has single handedly created a famine), with perhaps a little help from our more sustainable contributions to agriculture, then the world would look after itself quite nicely. This would also mean that these countries are not reliant upon the West to prop them up and might stand a chance of developing and not remaining indebted to us, but then that might mean we miss out on cheap labour opportunities later.

Eat local is most definitely the way forward - both in first world and third world. Home grown is best.

"this is a totally appropriate story, and the indignant comments are pretty telling. even people who generally read treehugger and presumably are somewhat environmentally-conscious still would rather not acknowledge that the key primary cause of environmental problems is overconsumption and control of resources by global north countries, especially the US."

That's what I'm seeing as well. I see it a lot. It's surprising how often my fellow "Treehuggers" oppose something Green or support something that is not.

That said, Bush's comments were indeed taken out of context.

Overpopulation? Laughable. Human beings are animals. Why do people act like the rules for humans are SO different? If there can be billions of beetles, fish, etc, why do some paranoids think that there can't be billions of human beings. The problem isn't that there are too many of us (preposterous). The problem is that so many of us consume so much.

The fact that the economy is capitalistic is not something to laud. Just because a system is dominating doesn't mean that it's right.

George, take a closer look at US foreign policy. A lot of countries were feeding themselves quite nicely, thank you, until the US (often through the IMF or World Bank) decided to turn them into markets for our surplus crops and exporters of the cash crops needed here. That is another example of an imbalanced food policy, one designed to enrich corporations rather than to feed people.

" Americans eat 3,770 calories per day on average, whereas Indians average 2,440 per day."

A battle over who should get most obese.

The Americans are more overweight than the Indians then. The Indians must be getting fat too. Myself - if I exceed 1,700 calories I rapidly gain fat despite being 169cm and going running every day.

Both groups should stop stuffing their faces.

As well, why do we think we have a right to drive more than Indians. Both overeating and driving are the main reasons why Americas are way overweight.

I suppose we need to keep the health care industry going because that is about all the US economy has these days.

in our counrty (UK) we export and import more or less the same foodstuffs in the same quanities...

go figure that one!

I personally don't think that we should focus on overpopulation, but the difference in population between these two countries is significant. Based on the populations, India consumes 2.4 times as much as the United States, despite the difference in average calories. Also, India is mostly Hindu which means that cows are sacred and not commonly used for food, so that is just thrown in to show how "bad" Americans are.

Why do I ever read the comments section of websites? Be it Youtube, Treehugger or the Superficial, the comments sections are always filled with fruitless attempts at self-importance. Way to misinterpret the story Treehugger readers. Consider my lesson learned; from now on I read the professional articles on this site and avoid the peanut gallery entirely.

So, in response to other comments:

1. Very few Americans are undernourished. Cheap, high calories, non-nutritious food makes the poorest (i.e. still quite rich by any other standard) Americans malnourished- that is, fat but unhealthy.

2. the numbers of calories reported here would seem not to be the number actually consumed. I am a 6 foot tall american male and even I only need to eat 2400 calories per day to maintain a 180 pound weight. Rather, it must also include food calories wasted. It is often thrown around that about 1/4 of all food in America is thrown away without being eaten. That is as significant a factor as obesity in how much we consume- in an environmental/international politics/ world hunger sense.

Oh...just so we're clear: The fat western world IS a problem: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7404268.stm

that takes the cake and eats it too.. i loose my job because of cheap illegal labor, my children don't get a good education because they fill our school system, I can't get into the hospital in an emergency because its over crowded, and now Im suppose to starve ...

that takes the cake and eats it too.. i loose my job because of cheap illegal labor, my children don't get a good education because they fill our school system, I can't get into the hospital in an emergency because its over crowded, and now Im suppose to starve ...

Let's see We've got people complaining about illegals taking their jobs. I suppose if you asked a few Native Americans how they felt when Europeans stole their land and way of lfe they might react similarly. As far as food consumption, we are a nation of pigs, just look around you. Are there too many people in India? Of course. There are too many people in every country on the planet. The difference is we Americans use about 100 times the natural resources as someone if a developing country, and since there is no country on the planet with 100 times our population... We're in yet another war so we can continue to be gluttons and drive gas guzzlers. What is it about Americans that makes us think we're so damn special? We've certainly done some amazing things, but it'a about time we got over ourselves and started behaving like adult members of a global community.

If I had not been eating and living eco-consciously for nearly fourtly years now I might think that Americans were perfectly entitled to all the resources they over-consume and that it wasn't possible to reduce their intake of any of them.
I watch the people around me consume all manner of products every day as though there were no tomorrow and then look at me like I'm from another planet because I care about this one and eat and live accordingly. Then they complain because they're overweight and have any number of health problems. They couldn't care less about whether people in the "third world" have enough to eat. All they care about is having more, more, more.
Its not only Bush who just doesn't "get it", its the majority of people in America.

It's interesting how many people took it as a personal assault against them that an Indian official comment on the consumptive patterns of Americans. I am sure that Mehta was speaking rhetorically when suggesting that Americans slim down to a comparable average weight and caloric intake rather than offering a American Diet as a solution to the world's food crisis. The issue is obviously much more complex than that, so let's apply some critical thinking before flying off the handle about illegal immigrants and who deserves what.

Americans consume nearly twice the recommended daily allowance or calories as prescribed by the surgeon general. That is a significant statistic that should be scrutinized by those who feel any critique of the global food system is an affront to their lifestyle. There is nothing that entitles us to slurp diet coke all day and develop diabetes, nor is it an American right to demand beef on the table at every sitting. These habits alter the system such that an obesity epidemic is serving as the middle class model in global food trends.

slow down, eat locally, grow something on your patio, eat in season, have a steak from a pastured cow on occasion.

The Lancet 2008; 371:1661
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60716-3
Transport policy is food policy
Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts

Quotign this article:
:
"We estimate that a population of 1 billion people with a stable mean body-mass index (BMI) of 24·5 kg/m2 consumes an average 6·5 MJ of food energy per person per day to maintain basal metabolic rate, and a further 4 MJ per person per day for activities of daily living. An obese population of 1 billion people with a stable mean BMI of 29·0 kg/m2 would require an average 7 MJ of food energy per person per day to maintain basal metabolic rate, and 5·4 MJ per person per day for activities of daily living (calculations available from the authors). Compared with the normal weight population, the obese population consumes 18% more food energy. Additionally, more transportation fuel energy will be used to transport the increased mass of the obese population, which will increase even further if, as is likely, the overweight people in response to their increased body mass choose to walk less and drive more."

Quinn, that is not a capitalist view, that is a selfish view. It is really not that hard to increase food production, decrease food waste, and begin routine shipments to countries in need. The Berlin airlift is an excellent example, while yes, I realize that the flights were rather short, and oil was then much more prolific, it would not be that difficult to send a few large shipments (say 5 cargo ships carrying 350,000 tons of non-perishable foods) each month.
Of the type that I describe, there are about 6000 currently active, with more than 4 other types of cargo ships which are similar in amount and productivity.
This would greatly benefit the poorest of nations, through the maintaining life, enabling a large work force, and accordingly, stimulating economies.

Generally speaking, it takes resources to create resources. The US has created many great resources for all, and it takes resources to fuel the research and development process.

In other words, yes the US consumes, but thanks to the US we have computers, software, cures, electricity, airplanes, and the list goes on and on.

You can't just look at consumption, it is only one part of the equation. You should look at what that consumption yields, creates, and returns back into the pool of resources from which it was fueled.

From this angle, I would note that many other countries are consuming quite a bit of resources, without returning any benefit to the world.

Blame the US for not enough food. Sure, the US created the technology that allows you to produce more food and feed more of your people than ever before. But, since there are still problems, let's blame the US.

If you don't want to export your food to the US, don't do it and start taking responsibility.

Do not tell the Americans how to live their lives. If they want to continue as they are doing, eating more than anybody else on this planet, consuming more goods, more foodstuffs, more fossil fuels, emitting more CO2 per capita than any other person on this planet, then let them do just that. They always have done and always will do, just what they please, because they truely beilieve they are born with this right to do just as they please.

Realistically speaking, what most people DONT UNDERSTAND is the fact that Indian doesn't import most of its food stuff, it just uses the internal production to feed the production.

And the reason why food prices are going high in the USA and other world economies is because the Indian goverment has halted the export of rice, wheat and vegetables to feed the domestic consumption.

And the statement about Americans "creating" and then consuming is just a load of bull crap.

All the countries in the world have created enough to deserve a place to eat more.

The simple arguement that the indians are asking is this
"When the American who works 8 hours a day gets to eat nutritious food, but then why get pissed of when an indian doing the same thing eats the same food?".

This article pretty much proves that the Americans feel that they "deserve" and would like to orchestrate their superiority and have their stupid claims of "we've given a lot to the world" when their food shortage is because of indians not exporting food to them..