Wow, what the world eats....

Saw an interesting feature on TIME photos, showing what's on the family dinner table all around the globe. The beautiful photographs are by Peter Menzel from the book "Hungry Planet". 

What an eye opener. For some families, they spend US$500 a week on food while for others, they survive with less than US$2 a week. Ironically, the family size of those who spend less are generally bigger than those families who spend and eat more.  Take for instance, a Bhutanese family of 13 survives on US$5 per week on food, while a German family of 4 spends US$500 each week, 100 times more.

Let's look at what each family in a country spend on eating, from the most expensive to the least. How much do you spend on food a week?

Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07
Favorite foods: fried potatoes with onions, bacon and herring, fried noodles with eggs and cheese, pizza, vanilla pudding

Luxembourg: The Kuttan-Kasses of Erpeldange  

Food expenditure for one week: 347.64 Euros or $465.84 

Favorite Foods: Shrimp pizza, Chicken in wine sauce, Turkish kebabs 

France: The Le Moines of Montreuil
Food expenditure for one week: 315.17 euros or $419.95  

Favorite Foods: Delphine Le Moine's Apricot Tarts, pasta carbonara, Thai food 

Australia: The Browns of River View  
Food expenditure for one week: 481.14 Australian dollars or US$376.45   Family Recipe: Marge Brown's Quandong (an Australian peach) Pie, Yogurt

 

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week: $341.98 

Favourite Food: spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken

Japan:   The Ukita family of Kodaira City

Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25 

Favorite foods: sashimi, fruit, cake, potato chips

Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily 

Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11

Favorite foods: fish, pasta with ragu, hot dogs, frozen fish sticks 

Great Britain: The Bainton family of Cllingbourne Ducis 

Food expenditure for one week: 155.54 British Pounds or $253.15 

Favorite foods: avocado, mayonnaise sandwich, prawn cocktail, chocolate fudge cake

United States: The Fernandezes of Texas

Food expenditure for one week: $242.48   
Favorite Foods: Shrimp with Alfredo sauce, chicken mole, barbecue ribs, pizza

Kuwait: The Al Haggan family of Kuwait City 

Food expenditure for one week: 63.63 dinar or $221.45 

Family recipe: Chicken biryani with basmati rice

Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca 

Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.00   

Favorite foods: pizza, crab, pasta, chicken

China:  The Dong family of Beijing   
Food expenditure for one week:  1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06  
Favorite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce

Poland:   The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna  

Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27  

Family recipe: Pig's knuckles with carrots, celery and parsnips  

Turkey: The Celiks of Istanbul 

Food expenditure for one week: 198.48 New Turkish liras or $145.88 

Favorite Foods; Melahat's Puffed Pastries 

Guatemala: The Mendozas of Todos Santos 

Food expenditure for one week: 573 Quetzales or $75.70 

Family Recipe: Turkey Stew and Susana Perez Matias's Sheep Soup 

 

Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo  

Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53 

Favourite Food: Okra and mutton

Mongolia: The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar  

Food expenditure for one week: 41,985.85 togrogs or $40.02  

Family recipe: Mutton dumplings

India: The Patkars of Ujjain  

Food expenditure for one week: 1,636.25 rupees or $39.27 

Family Recipe: Sangeeta Patkar's Poha (Rice Flakes) 

 

 

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo 
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55 

Family recipe: Potato soup with cabbage  

Mali: The Natomos of Kouakourou 

Food expenditure for one week: 17,670 francs or $26.39 

Family Recipe: Natomo Family Rice Dish

 

Bhutan:  The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village 

Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03 

Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp  
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23  
Favorite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat

Lama Zopa Rinpoche meets His Holiness

Venerable Roger updated his blog on the recent happenings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Here are some excerpts: 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche meets His Holiness Dalai Lama

His Holiness the Dalai Lama walked through the door. Rinpoche went forward to greet him (not being able to prostrate) and they embraced (this was the first time Rinpoche had met His Holiness since his stroke earlier in the year). The room was very silent and still. They remained embracing each other for what seemed like a long time. His Holiness then sat down and asked Rinpoche to sit close. His Holiness then held Rinpoche’s right hand and kept massaging and stroking it throughout their meeting and asking about how the stroke had started and all that had happened. During the meeting, for some who were in the small group with Rinpoche, it was hard to hold back the tears. Some were not holding them back at all.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Khandro-la

Khandro-la explained to me that it is very difficult for Rinpoche to think of looking after his own body. This is something I can really relate to. I see it all the time, but much more so since the stroke. In the hospital after the stroke, Rinpoche, at the most difficult and most critical times, seemed to have not the slightest interest in his body. He wasn’t at all interested in what the doctors or nurses did to his body. Never asked any questions of the doctors or nurses about his condition. He seemed to just accept everything, getting better/not getting better didn’t seem to make a difference. What was always foremost on his mind was commitments: prayers and practice, and that is the same now. All else can be left behind. Focusing on getting his body healthy isn’t easy! Khandro-la says Rinpoche is always “in practice.” It is rare to see someone like this even amongst high lamas, someone whose mind is never separate from tong-len, bodhichitta and emptiness. Outwardly we can see and comment on Rinpoche’s great generosity with so many projects to benefit others, but it is difficult to see the real practice.

Go read the remaining of his updates here. 

Below are photos of Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Portland, Oregon.  A beautiful rainbow was sighted after Rinpoche finished water offering to Dzambhala. May my precious kind guru recover completely immediately and may I see him real soon. Om mani padme hum!

Lama Zopa Rinpoche doing water offering to Dzambhala

Beautiful rainbow sighted

Drawing & message from Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Who is this Bell Curve God?

Saw these unbelievable photos from STOMP.  Some students in a local university who are sitting for their final examinations have reportedly resorted to and set up shrines to pray to a so-called 'Bell Curve God' for help.  The Bell Curve grading is a method of assigning students' grades based on their relative performance in comparison to their classmates' performance.

Taken in a hostel in a local university, students are so stressed and desperate for good results that they have printed a photo of this so-called 'God' with '2 hands' next to it, and a table full of food offerings like instant cup noodles, sweets, Nutella, drinks, chocolates, bread etc. There are also 2 candles, 3 cups of water in front of the portrait.  There is even a buzzer bell amidst the 'offerings'?

Don't you think this message with a skeleton is most disturbing and shocking? I am most astonished to see these photos and hope that these are just part of a sick prank. We should bear in mind, that one should not venerate and make offerings to any unknown subject as this may unwittingly attract passing spirits to reside in the surroundings.  It can be dangerous and can cause upheaval to one's own life, not to mention the negative vibes. If one needs to pray or find solace, turn to one's own religion instead, whether you are a Christian, Buddhist or Catholic etc.... and get a proper object/statue/religious item with religious background. I feel parents or the school authorities should be alerted. They should act and counsel the students immediately, if this is found to be true.

May all beings be wise and free from unnecessary disturbances.

It's World AIDS day, let's be positive

Today 1st December is World AIDS day.  Let's not denigrate, ostracise and reject those who are HIV-positive.  Let's not discriminate them for they are also humans like us. Let's open our hearts to them, support them, and do not deny them their right to live as normal a life as they deserve. 

Let's be positive about people living with HIV.