We are what we eat. But how do our diets actually reflect us? To find out, photographer Gregg Segal has traveled around the world to shoot kids from different cultures surrounded by the stuff they stuff themselves with. Over the course of 3 years, the photographer has visited 9 countries (the USA, India, Malaysia, Germany, France, Italy, Senegal, the United Arab Emirates, and Brazil), documenting his findings in a book called Daily Bread: What Kids Eat Around the World. “I focused on kids because eating habits start young and if you don’t get it right when you’re 9 or 10, it’s going to be a lot harder when you’re older,” Gregg told Bored Panda.
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Anchal Sahani, 10, Chembur, Mumbai, India
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Anchal Sahani, Chembur, Mumbai, India (10 yrs old) photographed March 11, 2017 (girl wearing pink dress) Anchal lives in a tiny tin shack on a construction site in a suburb of Mumbai with her parents and two siblings. Her father makes less than $5 a day, just enough for her mother to prepare okra & cauliflower curry, lentils and roti from scratch. Anchal would like to return to the farm where she was born in Bihar, go to school like other kids and eventually become a teacher, but she’s kept busy with household chores and looking after her baby brother. When she has time, she dresses up and leaves the construction site to enjoy the fragrance of jasmine and lotus and to watch the neighborhood kids playing cricket and running free. While on her walks, Anchal collects brightly colored chocolate wrappers she finds along the road by the grocery store. Anchal wishes her mother would love her the way she loves her baby brother.
Greta Moeller,7, Hamburg, Germany
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Greta Moeller, Hamburg, Germany, 7, photographed August 11, 2017 (girl wearing red headphones) Greta lives with her mother and younger sister in Hamburg, but spends quite a bit of time with her grandparents, too. On the path to her grandparents home is a great big chestnut tree and in autumn, Greta searches in the foliage for chestnuts with her little sister. Greta’s favorite food is fish sticks with mashed potatoes and applesauce. She can’t stand rice pudding. One thing Greta is really good at is snapping her fingers, both hands at the same time. At night, while falling asleep, Greta thinks mostly about her mother, who is usually in the next room watching TV.
Kawakanih Yawalapiti, 9, Upper Xingu region of Mato Grosso, Brazil
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Kawakanih Yawalapiti, 9, Upper Xingu region of Mato Grosso, Brazil, photographed August 19, 2018 in Brasilia. Kawakanih, a member of the Yawalapiti tribe, lives in Xingu National Park, a preserve in the Amazonian Basin of Brazil. The park is encircled by cattle ranches and soy
In the past six months alone, 100 million trees have been felled to make room for
When she was born, Kawakanih’s mother, Watatakalu, isolated her from those who didn’t speak Arawaki, their native language. Only 7 speakers of the language remained and her mother was afraid Arawaki would go extinct. In fact, Kawakanih is the first child to be raised speaking Arawaki since the 1940’s and her mother says it’s up to Kawakanih and her two siblings to keep the language alive. Kawakanih has also learned her father’s dialect as well as Portuguese. She loves to read history books, especially ones about the Egyptians. Most of her days are spent playing in the river or helping with chores, like harvesting manioc (cassava), making tapioca and fishing. Every couple of months, Kawakanih travels to Canarana for school where she learns computer skills, though no one in her village owns a computer; there is no electricity or running water. To get to the studio in Brasilia, Kawakanih and her mother traveled 31 hours from their village by boat, bus and car. The red paint Kawakanih wears, traditionally made from ground urucum seeds, protects her from bad spirits and energy. A cluster of seedpods are to the left of Kawakanih’s head. Rainforest tribes have used the entire Urucum plant as medicine for centuries. Kawakanih’s diet is very simple, consisting mainly of fish, tapioca, fruit and nuts. It takes five minutes to catch dinner, says Kawakanih. When you’re hungry, you just go to the river with your net.
Henrico Valias Sant`anna de Souza Dantas, 10, Brasilia, Brazil
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Henrico Valias Sant`anna de Souza Dantas, 10, Brasilia, Brazil, photographed August 18, 2018 (boy wearing camouflage pants on Star Wars backdrop). Henrico lives in a posh suburb of Brasilia with his mom, a film producer and advertising executive, and his two siblings. Henrico’s mom, grandma and maid do the day to day cooking, though Henrico likes to invent his own snacks. His favorite dish is Feijoada, a Brazilian stew of black beans and pork, served with a side of white rice, “farofa” (fried cassava flour), and collard greens. Henrico likes dessert, too: chocolate soufflé; Toblerone and Talento bars; anything with Nutella, “brigadeiro,” a ball of baked condensed milk and chocolate; buttered toast sprinkled with Nescau powder, a treat his uncle invented; and one of his own creations – steak covered with sliced banana. Henrico has mastered video games like Little Big Planet, Lego Marvel and Escape 3. He listens to Justin Bieber, Maroon 5 and Gato Galatico, watches Iron Fist and The Flash on Netflix and is a Star Wars fan. From participating in Daily Bread, Henrico discovered that he eats a wide variety of food. He has no idea what he wants to do when he becomes an adult. There is nothing missing in his life. He is perfectly content.
Ademilson Francisco dos Santos (11) Vão de Almas, Goiás, Brazil
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Ademilson Francisco dos Santos (11) Vão de Almas, Goiás, Brazil, photographed August 19, 2018 in Brasilia (mixed race boy on yellow fabric). Ademilson is from Vão de Almas, a community of 300 families in the Cerrado region of Goiás. Ademilson’s home is 200 kilometers from the nearest town, a journey on mountainous, unpaved roads through valleys and across rivers – an almost impossible trip during the rainy season. There is no TV, electricity or running water. Villagers bathe, wash their clothes and clean their pots and pans in the Capivara River. Ademilson, the youngest of 7 children, goes to school in the morning (an hours walk from home) and in the afternoon, returns to help his father with farming and collecting native plants. The family cultivates a cornucopia of crops: rice, manihot (cassava), sweet potatoes, squash, beans, gherkin, okra, jiló, orange, lemon, watermelon, corn, coffee and sugar cane. They collect a bounty of native fruits, too: buriti, mangaba, mango, jatobá, pequi, caju, and coco indaiá. They produce coconut oil, mamona oil (castor oil) and sesame and peanut paçoca. They farm without the use of machinery, irrigation or pesticides and fertilize with ash from the burning of the bush. Manihot, the brown root in the upper right hand corner of the photograph, is a staple of Ademilson’s diet. His favorite treats are mangoes and paçoca (similar to peanut brittle). There are many kinds of food Ademilson doesn’t eat because they’re not part of his diet and are completely foreign. He tried a hot dog when he went to the city and hated it. He’d never eaten pizza before coming to Braslila to be photographed. In his portrait, Ademilson is holding buriti, a wild palm from the Cerrado rich in carotenoids and antioxidants which indigenous people refer to as the “tree of life” because of its many uses: its wood goes into the construction of homes and handcrafts; leaves are used to cover houses; fibers are used to make textiles and the orange pulp of the fruit is used for food. Even the seeds of the buriti fruit aren’t wasted; they’re cold pressed by natives who use the oil to protect themselves from the sun and soothe sore muscles.
Beryl Oh Jynn, 8, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Beryl Oh Jynn, 8, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, photographed March 25, 2017 (Chinese girl in school uniform). Beryl lives in a quiet condominium with her parents and two brothers. She goes to S. J. K. Han Ming Puchong, a national Chinese school walking distance from home. Beryl’s dad is an engineer and her mother runs a day care. Beryl’s earliest memory of food is porridge and cake. Her favorite dish is spaghetti with carbonara sauce. Beryl grows bok choy and spinach in her balcony garden, is not permitted to drink sodas and refuses to eat ginger. She would like to be a cheerleader.
Andrea Testa, 9, Catania, Italy
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Andrea Testa, 9, Catania, Italy, photographed August 23, 2017 (boy in swimsuit) Andrea lives in a single house surrounded by a little garden and lava stones with his parents and 6 year old sister Vittoria. Andrea’s father is an officer in the Italian army and his mother is a housewife who does all the cooking. Andrea’s favorite dish is pasta carbonara with plenty of bacon. He loves the scent of orange blossoms and cherries. He won’t touch cauliflower. If he had enough money, Andrea would buy a drone and a little dog, which he would name “Ettore” (Hector). Andrea performs magic tricks for his family and friends. His hero is Robinson Crusoe. Andrea would like to be a doctor because they make a lot of money.
Adveeta Venkatesh, 10 years old, Mumbai, India
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Adveeta Venkatesh, 10 years old, Mumbai, India, photographed March 11, 2017 (girl in yellow dress). Adveeta, an only child, lives with her maternal granny, who prepares most of her meals, and her parents in a spacious flat with a balcony overlooking Deonar, a suburb of Mumbai. The air is often hazy from fires burning at Deonar dumping ground, India’s oldest and largest landfill, an 18-story, 12 million ton mountain of trash. Adveeta’s mother and father are scientists at a government research center in Mumbai. They make it home in time for dinner. While at the table, no one uses gadgets or watches TV. Before eating, Adveeta says a prayer of gratitude for the food on her plate. A vegetarian, she loves South Indian cuisine, particularly dosas (pancakes made from fermented rice and lentils) served with spicy chutney and yogurt. A few years ago, Adveeta was a picky eater. She didn’t eat 99% of the food she eats now. But as her father discovered during the photo shoot, she’s also eating more snacks and sweets. “I can’t believe Adveeta is eating all that junk!” he commented, as the pictures popped up on my monitor. “I’m going to have to have a talk with her mother!” Adveeta studies drama, performs classical Indian dance and prefers to solve puzzles and riddles than to play with Barbie dolls. She’s only cried once in the last year. While traveling in Jakarta and Bali, she contracted chicken pox and was kept isolated from her cousins. Adveeta plans to be a veterinarian and to contribute extra money to orphanages and animal shelters.
Meissa Ndiaye, 11, Dakar, Senegal
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Meissa Ndiaye, 11, Dakar, Senegal, photographed August 30, 2017 (African boy in blue dress). Meissa shares a single room with his dad, mum and brother in the heart of Parcelles Assainies, which means “sanitized plots.” A treeless, sandy suburb of Dakar, Parcelles Assainies was developed in the 1970’s to house the poor overflowing from the city. Meissa lives opposite the futbol stadium and open-air market, hundreds of stalls selling everything from fresh fish to wedding dresses. In late August, tethered goats line the streets before Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice. Meissa, a devout Muslim and student at Quran School, loves goat meat and sweet foods like porridge, though in the week he kept a diary of his meals, he ate very little meat. More often, he filled up on French bread stuffed with spaghetti, peas or fried potatoes. Meissa’s mum and anties prepare his meals though once or twice a week they get take out. Meissa loves futbol most of all and hopes to be a star player like Messi or Ronaldo. If he had enough money, he’d buy a nice little sports car. He wishes his mum and dad, a refrigerator technician, could immigrate to France so that they can earn enough money.
Alexandra (9, left) and Jessica (8, right) Lewis, Altadena, CA, USA
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Alexandra (9, left) and Jessica (8, right) Lewis, Altadena, CA, USA. Photographed February 21, 2016 (sisters wearing hats and rollerskates). Alex and Jessica live in the foothills of Altadena with their daddy and papa who are engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a NASA field center in La Canada, California. Their yard is filled with food: blackberry bushes, grape vines, and fruit trees – fig, peach, pomegranate, guava, mulberry, jujubes, and banana. They have chickens, too, and eat their eggs almost every day.
Jessica loves sweets and pizza with ham and is repelled by beans, peppers, sushi, and chocolate. She’s good at drawing and daydreaming and on weekends the whole family roller-skates at Moonlight Rollerway. Jessica is the richest person on her street besides their neighbor Mary Anne. When she grows up, she wants to be an author and university professor.
Alex makes Hot Pockets, pizza rolls, and quesadillas herself, but her favorite dish is macaroni and cheese. She refuses to eat Brussels sprouts or soggy leftover broccoli. She collects rocks and shells and is saving up for an xbox 360 and Nintendo Switch. Alex makes people laugh without even trying because she’s a spaz, she says. Her long-range goal is to get a PhD and have an outstanding career.
After the photo shoot, Alex and Jessica took much of the leftover food home to feed their chickens.
Cooper Norman, 12 (10 at time of shoot), Altadena, CA, USA
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Cooper Norman, 12 (10 at time of shoot), Altadena, CA, USA. Photographed January 30, 2016 (Asian-American boy wearing suit and bow tie). Cooper lives in the foothills of Altadena, California with his mom, a school administrator and dad, a human resources manager. Other than the cries of wild parrots and peacocks, his neighborhood is quiet, peaceful, and untraveled. At 4, Cooper began taking karate classes and at 5, he took up classical guitar. He got into bow ties, too, which he wears for his guitar recitals. Cooper last wore this suit to a wedding in Palm Springs. The bride’s uncle was so impressed with Cooper’s table manners that he invited him out for dim sum. At Odyssey Charter School, Cooper plants all sorts of fruits and vegetables. He thinks of himself as an adventurous eater, willing to try almost anything, though Thai food (his mother’s home country) is his favorite. His earliest memory of food is eating Cheerios in his stroller. Cooper plans to be a neurosurgeon when he grows up and, if he has enough money, will buy a teleporter, so he can visit his family in Thailand more often.
Siti Khaliesah Nataliea Muhamad Khairizal, 9, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Siti Khaliesah Nataliea Muhamad Khairizal, 9, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, photographed March 26, 2017 (heavy set Muslim girl in pink dress), Siti lives in a suburb of Kuala Lumpur with her father, a car salesman, her mother, a housewife and her 4 siblings. Mum does all the cooking and sets the rules for the table: recite the Du’a, no water before meals and no chatting during meals though it’s very seldom that the whole family sits down to dinner together because everyone’s so busy. Siti’s favorite dish is spaghetti carbonara and she’s crazy about the scent of fried instant noodles. She goes to a Chinese school where she learns Mandarin, plays the Melodian and practices Taekwando. When she falls asleep at night, Siti wishes her dad would put some money under her pillow. She collects coins of all kinds and foreign currencies. Once she saves enough money, Siti’s going to buy an IPad.
Yusuf Abdullah Al Muhairi, 9, Mirdif, Dubai, UAE
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Yusuf Abdullah Al Muhairi, 9, Mirdif, Dubai, UAE, photographed August 12, 2018 (boy wearing a white thawb and holding a toy rabbit). Yusuf’s mom came to Dubai from Ireland to work as a pastry chef and chocolatier. She married an Emerati man and they had one son before separating. Yusuf loves his mum’s cooking though he makes scrambled eggs and toast all on his own. Yusuf likes to read, draw, climb, ride horses and create science projects. He thinks he’ll either be a pilot or police officer when he grows up. If he had the money, he’d buy a Ferrari. His role models are Batman and his mother. Yusuf wishes for his mum to get married again and that he’ll have brothers and sisters. Lying in bed at night, he thinks back to building a birdhouse with his granddad, fishing with him in the rivers in Ireland and going to Warner Brothers with his grandmom.
June Grosser, 8, Hamburg, Germany
Image credits: Gregg Segal
June Grosser, 8, Hamburg, Germany, photographed August 11, 2017 (blonde girl wearing purple boots). June’s mom is a fashion photographer, though she hasn’t yet photographed her daughter. June must have observed her mother at work or she’s just a natural model, completely assured in front of the camera. June can sing almost all the songs she hears on the radio – and dance to them. She has no role model. She intends to be her own role model. She’d like a dog, but her parents won’t allow her. She figures if she can make enough money, she may be able to bribe her mother to get one. June’s favorite food is schnitzel. She doesn’t care for curry and truffles and didn’t like broccoli either until now. She is full after meals but hunger returns quickly. At dinner, June doesn’t talk much, but rather listens to her parents discuss politics, elections, and what’s going on in the world. The things she likes most about herself is her hair, her long eyelashes and her imagination, her fantasies. One of her wishes is to fly to the moon, though she’d rather focus on wishes that will be fulfilled. June is reading The Vampire Diaries and as she’s lying in bed at night trying to fall asleep, she often wonders if vampires really exist.
Frank Fadel Agbomenou, 8, Dakar, Senegal
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Frank Fadel Agbomenou, 8, Dakar, Senegal, photographed August 30, 2017 (African boy on purple cloth). Frank lives with his older brother and father, a Human Resources Manager in an apartment in a posh neighborhood of Dakar. Frank would like to see his dad and mum together again but he doesn’t think that wish will be fulfilled. Frank cried a couple weeks ago; his mum told him she would take him to the beach but then changed her mind. She’s busy, working as a caterer for parties and fancy hotel events. There is almost nothing Frank doesn’t like to eat. He eats lots of peanuts from the peanut tree on his terrace. He’s especially fond of fish and the family cook knows how to prepare it just right. Frank is an excellent dancer and has mastered summersaults though he prefers watching TV and playing games on his Play Station. The thing that makes him laugh the hardest is when his cousin Coco falls down. Frank dreams of buying a flashy sports car and traveling to Paris. When he grows up, he wants to be a gynecologist.
Leona “Nona” Del Grosso Sands, 6, Glendale, CA
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Leona “Nona” Del Grosso Sands, 6, Glendale, CA, photographed January 30, 2016 (blonde girl on green cloth). Nona lives with her mother and Cleo, her beloved cat, in an apartment in Glendale, CA. She can make oatmeal and pancakes and once when her mother was very sick, she fed her. Nona grew a gigantic tomato plant that began to take over everything and is now as big as a tree. Her mother makes her eat vegetables, especially broccoli. Her diet has as many colors as the rainbow, though Nona also has not just a sweet tooth, but many “sugar teeth.” Nona’s role models are her mother, her teachers and Joan Jett. When she goes to sleep at night, Nona sometimes imagines her Nana is an angel watching over her.
Hank Segal, 8, Altadena, CA
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Hank Segal, 8, Altadena, CA, photographed January 30, 2016 (boy without shirt on black fabric). Hank lives with his mom, a voice teacher, his father, a photographer and their dog, Django near the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles. Hank and his parents have grown sun gold cherry tomatoes, artichokes, zucchini, spinach, pomegranates, yams, snap peas, watercress, rosemary, thyme, basil, Serrano chili peppers, boysenberries, kyoho grapes, raspberries, rhubarb, and watermelon. Hank has an adventurous palette. While eating a fried Branzino at a Lebanese restaurant, he announced, “I’m gonna’ get all Anthony Bourdain on it!” and popped the fish’s crispy eyeball in his mouth. Usually, Hank and his parents talk politics over dinner or succumb to TV. Hank likes his back scratched and figures he must be part dog because his sense of smell is so keen. He especially likes the aroma of melted butter and garlic. He also likes 80’s music because “they really knew how to use the synth.” Hank’s heroes are Albert Einstein, Teddy Roosevelt and Abe Lincoln because he fixed slavery and has a sweet beard. Hank wants to be a mechanical engineer at NASA when he grows up.
Daria Joy Cullen, 6, Pasadena, California
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Daria Joy Cullen, 6, Pasadena, California, photographed February 21, 2016. Daria loves bacon, pasta, popcorn slathered with butter, milk chocolate and other sweets, particularly mint chocolate chip ice-cream. She won’t eat fruits and vegetables of any kind, even as a toddler, not even mashed bananas or apple sauce. Her pediatrician is concerned about Daria’s low weight and limited diet and her parents are concerned she may have an overactive gag reflex. Daria’s role model is her big sister, who can make friends and play the violin effortlessly. For fun, Daria entertains her friends, impersonating a monkey. When she grows up, Daria would like to be a dog trainer. If she had enough money, she’d buy a horse and a pug.
Chetan Menge, 10, Deonar, India
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Chetan Menge, 10, Deonar, India. Photographed March 12, 2017 (boy with cricket bat). Chetan and his family of four live in a one-room flat in Deonar outside Mumbai. Chetan’s dad is a night watchman and his mom owns a beauty parlor. The family eats their meals in front of the little TV that is the centerpiece of their small home and when they’re not talking about their favorite TV programs, they talk about their village and their farmhouse with its beautiful banana orchards. They don’t pray before meals but just bow down to the food on their plates and put their palms together in namaste. Usually, Chetan is not full when he is finished eating; he always wants a little more, especially dessert. Chetan’s father scolds his son for three things: 1) making noise with his mouth when eating 2) playing drums on his mom’s pots and pans and 3) for not sitting up straight when he is eating. Chetan used to hate onions, but now he crushes them with his hands and eats them raw with chicken. For fun, Chetan invents stories about comical characters to tell his friends. He confesses that he is sometimes mischievous and laughs out loud at his friend’s mishaps. Recently, he traveled by train to another district with 100 rupees in his pocket. When a neighbor saw Chetan hanging out at a local food stall, he called his mother, who was furious and gave Chetan a good scolding. Chetan is known for being kind to animals. He misses his most beloved tomcat, Mannya and another stray cat, both of whom died due to some unforeseen events. If he had more money, Chetan would give to the homeless and feed the poor. He wishes his mother did not have to work so hard. Chetan works at his studies and would like to be a rocket scientist like Abul Kalam Azad, India’s former president.
Isaiah Dedrick, Long Beach, CA
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Isaiah Dedrick, Long Beach, CA, (16 at time of photo) photographed March 20, 2016 (African American boy wearing Superman shirt). Isaiah was raised by his mother and grandmother, who does most of the cooking at home. One day, Isaiah would like to have enough space to grow his own garden. Isaiah’s favorite food is orange chicken and fried rice and he loves the smell of apples sautéed with cinnamon. His mom doesn’t permit him to drink soda and after this photo shoot, Isaiah decided to eliminate snacks from his diet. Isaiah’s wish is that no one will go hungry in the world. He plays the drums and the flute and is studying acting. He’d like to be as funny as Eddie Murphy or Tyler Perry and be able to fly like Superman.
Bradley Choi, 9, Temple City, CA
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Bradley Choi, 9, Temple City, CA, photographed March 20, 2016 (Asian-American boyscout). Bradley, a boy of few words, lives in the San Gabriel Valley, northeast of Los Angeles with his parents and younger brother. Bradley’s favorite food is sushi. He dislikes shrimp and mushrooms and observed that he doesn’t eat enough greens. He loves to read and swim and enjoys helping others. Before going to sleep, Bradley prays that he will do well in school. He also wishes his parents would let him have a small, fluffy dog. When he grows up, Bradley wants to be a dentist.
Thayla Reis Oliveira, 8, Brasilia, Brazil
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Thayla Reis Oliveira, 8, Brasilia, Brazil, photographed August 19, 2018 (mixed race girl with pigtails holding Nestle’s bar). Thayla lives in a noisy, crowded neighborhood where music is played loud at all hours and soda cans and other trash litter the streets. Thayla’s mom (a housekeeper) and dad (a gardener) struggle to make ends meet. Thayla studies at the Paranoá public school and in an afterschool program sponsored by the Ministry of Defense. Most poor kids in Brazil attend school to be able to eat, but the government has failed to provide adequate school lunches, offering little more than a glass of milk and a few crackers or a can of pre-cooked beans. Thayla would like to have more flavors in her diet and eat famous dishes of her country like feijoada (black beans with pork served with white rice, fried cassava flour, and sautéed collard greens). The army helps provide more substantial meals and bolsters the school curriculum, offering sports, recreation, crafts, English class, and civil studies. Thayla looks forward to playing tag and practicing capoeira at the army club. She sleeps with a cloth doll her mother had played with when she was a child. It has long blonde hair and nice clothes. If she had enough money, Thayla would buy clothes for the street kids who are worse off than her. Someday, she’d like to be a teacher.
Asma (10) and Fatima (7) Ahmed Kindi, Ajman, UAE
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Asma (10) and Fatima (7) Ahmed Kindi, Ajman, UAE, photographed August 12, 2018 (dark-haired sisters on turquoise fabric). Asma and Fatima live with their parents and four siblings in a lively neighborhood of Ajman, an emirate south of Dubai. Their dad, whose muscles are as big as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s, does security for movie productions and leads desert safaris for tourists. Mom runs the house. Asma and Fatima are not picky eaters – they eat everything except macaroni with béchamel sauce. They especially like pizza, chocolate, hot dogs and Syrian kibbeh. They have never grown or harvested anything nor learned to prepare any foods. Asma would like to be an optometrist. Fatima would like to be a pediatrician. They’ll have enough money to buy a villa, car, clothes, a home for mother and a hospital for her, too, if she is sick. Asma and Fatima would like to be with their parents till the last day of their lives.
Paolo Mendolaro, 9, Belpaso, Sicily
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Paolo Mendolaro, 9, Belpaso, Sicily, photographed August 23, 2017 (boy with pizza on his stomach). Paolo and his family of four live in an apartment in Belpasso, a tiny medieval village on the east coast of Sicily founded in 1305. When he steps outside his apartment, Paolo sees the center square and Mother Church of Belpasso with its lava stone staircase and bell tower. Paolo’s mom works full time for a cosmetics company, but makes time to prepare homemade meals for her family like Sicilian Cannolo and Pasta alla Norma. Once a week, they buy a roast chicken or go out for pizza, which Paolo loves most of all. Paolo has learned to make his own pizza and pasta as well as biscuits and big donuts. His grandfather had an overflowing garden and Paolo helped harvest eggplants, zucchini, bell peppers, olives, strawberries, peaches, tomatoes, peas and fava beans. During the week that Paolo kept his journal for Daily Bread, he’d been going to the beach with his family and didn’t follow as healthy a diet as usual; they often ate fast food. Paolo keeps his parents in his prayers. For his mother, he wishes for a dryer machine and a new truck for his father, a carpenter. If he had enough money, Paolo would buy a Play Station 4, a giant Lego set and, at minimum, a one-week holiday for the whole family.
Amelia Torrisi, 12, Trecastagni, Sicily
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Amelia Torrisi, 12, Trecastagni, Sicily, photographed August 23, 2017 (girl on blue cloth holding watermelon). Amelia is from Trecastagni (“three chestnut trees”), an old Sicilian village in the hills below Mount Etna, an active volcano that erupted again last spring. She lives with her mother (an actress) her father (a masseur), and her 5-year-old sister in a house with a little vegetable garden where they grow tomatoes, bell peppers, and eggplants. The soil is very fertile from the volcanic ash, which has minerals that help plants thrive. Amelia eats mostly fresh fruits and vegetables and once a week some meat or fish. They rarely eat out; most everything is homemade and Amelia helps prepare meals like pasta with vegetables. Sometimes, when she goes out with friends, she eats a sandwich, which she says is the only unhealthy part of her diet. Amelia loves to read and cherishes her books. She would like to study medicine and if she has enough money someday, she’ll buy a grand piano and help her parents when they’re old.
Davi Ribeiro de Jesus, 12, Brasilia, Brazil
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Davi Ribeiro de Jesus, 12, Brasilia, Brazil, photographed August 18, 2018 (boy with yellow and blue kite). Davi lives with his dad, step-mom and three siblings in a tidy one-room house in the Santa Luzia favela, a slum at the edge of the largest garbage dump in Latin America. The space is filled by three beds, a sofa, TV, refrigerator, two wardrobes, a cooker and a small table where they share their meals. A mosaic of mats and scraps of plywood cover the dirt floor. Davi has his own shelf where he arranges his clothes, his toy car collection, and his mobile. There’s no garbage collection and the power goes down frequently. When it rains, scattered garbage turns to sludge and oozes into homes, but Jesus keeps Davi and his family safe and happy. They go to a church nearby every Saturday night and Sunday morning. Davi’s dad is looking for work as a digger. He has his own pick, shovel and grubber. Davi’s step-mom handles the cooking. Davi will eat almost anything except bitter legumes though most days he has beans and rice, maybe with a little pork. He can cook fried eggs, porridge and pasta for himself. Sometimes there are treats, like sweet popcorn. He never goes to bed hungry. Davi laughs easily and is crazy about kites. He and his friends, Maxwell, Junior and Romário have kite fights in the favela’s empty lots where bored stray dogs scratch at fleas or sniff around for food. Davi adopted five strays and gave them names: Lassie, Beethoven, Tchutchuquinha, Belinha and Piloto. He also has a chicken and wants a horse. He wants to learn all about cars, motorcycles, helicopters and guns, too. His dad taught him to drive and now he dreams of having a Chevy. He’d like to be a cop when he grows up because it’s better to be a cop than a thief.
Sira Cissokho (11 yrs old) Dakar
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Sira Cissokho (11 yrs old) Dakar, photographed August 30, 2017 (wearing yellow dress, holding plate of fish). Sira, one of nine children, is from Tambacounda, about 7 hours north of Dakar. Sira’s father is a musician and her mother is a housewife. Sira doesn’t always get enough to eat. On special occasions, Sira’s mom makes her favorite dish, chicken. Many of the foods Sira and her family eat are grown in their garden, including millet and peanuts. Sira has learned to cook Ngalakh, a Senegalese millet porridge. If she had enough money, Sira would buy her parents a trip to Mecca. Of all her possessions, the thing Sira cherishes most is a bracelet her grandfather passed down to her before he died.
John Hintze, 7, Hamburg, Germany
Image credits: Gregg Segal
John Hintze, 7, Hamburg, Germany, photographed August 11, 2017 (boy wearing boxing gloves). John lives with his parents in a large apartment with a garden in a quiet suburb of Hamburg with more trees than cars. John describes himself as an omnivore. He’s fond of eating breakfast in bed. His parents bring him a tray of Musli and toast every morning before school. John loves his grandma’s roast, Chinese curry with cashew nuts and Orange Fanta, though he’s only allowed to drink Fanta on weekends. During the week there is only water. He used to like mushrooms, but not anymore. Once, with his friend Henry, he made a fruit plate with a sushi knife. “I have not yet harvested something to eat, but I could do that. First we’d have to plant something.” John collects minerals like purple azurite, is learning Thai kickboxing, sailing and is an accomplished swimmer. He would like to be an underwater archeologist. His dad has already found and brought back great things from the sea. Once, when he and his dad were snorkeling, a curious octopus approached them – which was both scary and fantastic. When he falls asleep at night, John paints a mental picture of what will happen tomorrow. He hopes his parents will never die.
Iman Danial Azman, 11, Perak, Malaysia
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Iman Danial Azman, 11, Perak, Malaysia, photographed March 24, 2017. (boy in school uniform eating McDonalds hamburger). Danial is from the Telok Bakong district of Perak north of the capital, Kuala Lumpur. He lives with his two older siblings and parents in a kampong house, a traditional Malay dwelling built on stilts to avoid wild animals and floods. There is enough open green space for Danial to fly his drone and practice tricks like flips and figure 8’s. Both of Danial’s parents work for the Malaysian Ministry of Education. His mom came from a poor family but proved that you can study hard and become someone others respect. Though she has a demanding work schedule, Danial’s mom finds time to prepare dinner most evenings. Danial is confident his diet is healthy because, “I make sure there is enough nutrition in my shakes.” He noticed though, when looking at his portrait, that most of his food was brown: fried chicken, fried rice, fried fish, Nasi Lemak, cinnamon bread, Koko Krunch. Fried chicken, Danial confides, is his kryptonite. He’s even learned to make fried chicken for himself, when he’s hungry and his mother’s at work. Since he was very young, Danial has tinkered with mechanical things. He’d like to be a motorcycle mechanic and can’t wait to get his own bike. He’s always checking the latest posts from Saiful, the MotorBlogger. Motorbikes are the last thing Danial thinks about before falling asleep.
Rosalie Durand, 10, Nice, France
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Rosalie Durand, 10, Nice, France, photographed August 18, 2017 (girl in kickboxing outfit). Since her parents split up, Rosalie has lived part time with her mom, and part time with her dad, which allows her to see both the Mediterranean Sea and the French Alps from home. She has a healthy diet (which includes lots of fresh fish, like sardines) thanks in part to her father, a restaurateur, who has taught her to make crepes, salads and lentils with sausage, her favorite dish. The only foods she won’t eat are ratatouille, spinach and cucumber. Rosalie gets her sense of style from her mother, a fashion designer, and plans to be an interior designer. Rosalie is into Thai kickboxing, rock climbing, gymnastics and performs magic tricks. She’s a fan of actors Cole Sprouse and Emma Watson and in her free time goes to the cinema. She notices she’s getting older because she has a phone. There’s nothing missing in Rosalie’s life, though she’d like to go to Los Angeles and explore Hollywood Boulevard. If she had enough money, she’d buy a sailboat or maybe even a yacht.
Saifullah Bin Sohail 12, Dubai, UAE
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Saifullah Bin Sohail 12, Dubai, UAE, photographed August 12, 2018 (boy wearing a white thawb and holding a Pepsi) Saifullah lives in an apartment with his parents and four siblings. His father is a used car salesman and his mother teaches Islamic studies. Saifullah has a talent for making animal noises – cats, dogs, sheep, pigs and cows – and this is how gets people to laugh. Saifullah dreams of becoming a successful aeronautical engineer, designing commercial jets and one day buying a great big house where he’ll live with his parents. When he goes to sleep at night, Saifullah thinks of food and pizza in particular. Saifullah’s earliest memory of food was his first taste of Biriyani in Pakistan where his grandparents still live. They were once farmers, growing mangoes and dates and their diet was better than his. They never ate pizza.
Nur Zahra Alya Nabila Binti Mustakim, 7, Kajang, Malaysia
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Nur Zahra Alya Nabila Binti Mustakim, 7, Kajang, Malaysia, photographed March 24, 2017 (girl wearing purple hijab and holding a large package of seaweed). Nur’s parents come from a rural village in East Malaysia. Her granny has supernatural beliefs passed down from long ago. She prepares food for the spirits and asks that they guard her family. Both Nur’s parents work in the hospitality industry and have a three-bedroom townhouse in Taman Sinaran, Balakong, a busy neighborhood in the state of Kajang, south of Kuala Lumpur. People from different races live on Nur’s street and they always greet one other and get together on weekends. Nur’s diet includes a variety of Chinese, Indian, and Malay dishes like chee cheong fun, rice noodle rolls filled with steamed tofu, beancurd skin, and fish balls served with a little sweet chili paste; roti canai, a flatbread eaten with dal and curry; and nasi lemak, a blend of rice, boiled eggs, cucumber, ancovies, peanuts and sambal (hot sauce) cooked in coconut milk and wrapped in banana leaves. 90% of Nur’s meals are homemade; she loves her mother’s cooking, especially her nasa ayam (chicken and rice), and her nasi lemak, which is mild and doesn’t give her a stomachache like the spicy store-bought ones. The unhealthiest food Nur eats are the snacks and sweet drinks she buys at her school canteen. Nur is a tough, stoic girl; she doesn’t cry when she falls off her bike. She just gets back on and keeps riding, setting an example for her two little sisters. When she grows up, Nur would like to be a dentist and help people take care of their teeth.
Shraman Gaware, 12, Mumbai, India
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Shraman Gaware, 12, Mumbai, India, photographed March 2016 (Indian boy covering his mouth with watermelon). Shraman, an only child, lives with his mom, a housewife and dad, a municipal officer, in a middle class Mumbai hi-rise surrounded by slums. Shraman loves spicy Barbeque Chicken, burgers, pizza, Poha (a puffed rice snack,) Timok (a rice flour pancake served with lentil curry), and street food from the Chinese stalls in his neighborhood. At home, Shraman makes pasta, noodles and tea for himself. He has never grown his own food though once, while visiting his uncle in Nasik, a village about 200 kms north of Mumbai, he harvested corn. He was impressed by the towering plants and helped his uncle pluck, shuck and eat the corn. Shraman collects “Tinkle” a kid’s magazine filled with jokes and puzzles, watches soccer on his smart phone and plays chess with his father at a little table in the living room. He wins more than half the time. Shraman has a talent for singing, cracking jokes and making ridiculous faces. He would like to be a stand-up comedian or actor. If he had enough money he would save it for a rainy day.
Tharkish Sri Ganesh (10) and Mierra Sri Varrsha (8), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Image credits: Gregg Segal
Tharkish Sri Ganesh (10) and Mierra Sri Varrsha, (8) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, photographed March 26, 2017 (brother and sister with food on bamboo leaves). Tharkish and Mierra’s roots in Malaysia begin with their great-grandfather who migrated from South India to build a better future, but only found work as a rubber tapper before being conscripted by the Japanese to build the “Death Railway” from Siam to Burma in 1943. Tharkish and Mierra live with their mom and dad in a public housing project in Bukit Jalil, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur. Their apartment block is full of friends and noisy in a good way. Their dad works as a gaffer in film production and their mom is a homemaker and does most of the cooking though on weekends they eat KFC, Pizza Hut or Chinese takeout. Mierra dislikes the pungent smell of meat and traces of blood. She prefers candies and chocolates. Her earliest memory of food is rice porridge, her comfort food whenever she falls sick. Tharkish’s favorite food is Puttu, steamed ground rice layered with coconut and topped with bananas and palm sugar. Tharkish doesn’t like onions because they taste weird and leave a funny smell in his mouth. His first taste was Urad Dal Porridge, an Indian baby food made with dal, rice, coconut, cardamon and jaggery (concentrated date palm sap). Mierra says her diet is healthy because her mom avoids foods with preservatives, additives and msg, though after her Daily Bread portrait, she still thinks she could eat less processed food. Mierra loves to read and play badminton and snakes and ladders while her brother is into chess, carom and surfing the internet. Mierra strives to be the top student in her class and wants to be a doctor while Tharkish will be happy with a top 3 finish after examinations and pictures himself an IT engineer.
by Ilona via Bored Panda - Source
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