October 2019
A Catalyst for Change
The goal of Daily Bread is to be a catalyst for change and link to a growing, grassroots community
that’s moving the needle on diet. Image: Gregg Segal
Childhood obesity rates are soaring.
Figures from World Obesity Federation indicate the Pacific Islands have the highest rates; in 2017 40.7 percent of Cook Islands children aged five to nine were obese compared to 40.6 percent in Nauru and 40 percent in Palau.
Photographer Gregg Segal says globalization is changing the way we eat.
Fast food companies in the Western world he said are sensing a change in attitudes about diet and the effects of junk food and have begun investing in foreign markets where Big Macs aren’t junk but a status symbol.
“In 2015, Cambridge University conducted an exhaustive study, identifying countries with the healthiest diets in the world.”
“9 of the top 10 countries are in Africa, where vegetables, fruit, nuts, legumes, grains are staples and meals are homemade, a stark contrast to the US where nearly 60% of the calories we consume come from ultra-processed foods and only 1% come from vegetables,” he said.
His project Daily Bread, sees Segal traveling the world and asking children to keep a food journal of everything they eat in a week.
“Once the week is up, I make a portrait of the child with the food arranged around them.”
“I’m focusing on kids because eating habits, which form when we’re young, last a lifetime and often pave the way to chronic health problems like diabetes, heart disease and colon cancer.”
The goal of Daily Bread is to be a catalyst for change and link to a growing, grassroots community that’s moving the needle on diet.
“I’ve been encouraged to find regions and communities where slow food will never be displaced by junk food, where home cooked meals are the bedrock of family and culture, where love and pride are sensed in the aromas of broths, stews and curries.”
“When the hand that stirs the pot is mom or dad, grandma or grandpa, kids are healthier,” he said.