DailyDirt: Food By The Numbers...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Fri, Sep 23rd 2011 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Some folks are obsessed with numbers. Others are obsessed with food. Combine these two tastes that taste great together and you get: ~~Reese's peanut butter cups~~ infographics about food. Here are just a few random sets of data on food consumption in the US.

Just as you probably already knew: Thin Mints are the most popular Girl Scout cookies, raking in about 25% of Girl Scout cookie sales. Samoas (aka Caramel deLites) come in at #2 with 19% of sales. [url]
What does the average American consume in a year? Hmm: 110 lbs of red meat vs 415 lbs of vegetables? Do those numbers sound right to you? [url]
In a survey of 500 "dudes" (ages 18-35), 90% of them had visited a McDonald's in the last 3 months. It's gotta be the fries -- a surprisingly high percentage of guys just get a drink or fries. [url]
To discover more food-related links, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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Filed Under: consumption, cookies, food, infographic, sales, samoas, thin mints
Companies: girl scouts, mcdonald's

10 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2011 @ 6:43pm

Omnivores Dilemma
When thinking about food, think about this:

http://michaelpollan.com/books/the-omnivores-dilemma/
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Jeffrey Nonken (profile), 23 Sep 2011 @ 6:44pm

Thin mints = favorite -- yep, what I'm told every year
Personally, my favorite is Do-si-dos.

Still, if somebody offers me Thin Mints, I'll likely eat them. :)
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- Michael Ho (profile), 23 Sep 2011 @ 9:35pm
  
  Re: Thin mints = favorite -- yep, what I'm told every year
  [Monty Python] "They're only wafer thin..." [/Monty Python]
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Ed C., 23 Sep 2011 @ 8:44pm

"Hmm: 110 lbs of red meat vs 415 lbs of vegetables? Do those numbers sound right to you?"
Corn syrup counts as a vegetable, right?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2011 @ 9:54pm

I eat 300 grams every meal those add up to 1200g per day equals to 1.2*365=438Kg and that is 966 lb per year.

If nothing else those numbers seem low to me.

I doubt people are eating less than 300 grams every meal, unless a large part of the population is not eating, like the homeless.

Yes I weight my meals I have to.
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- Nom du Clavier (profile), 24 Sep 2011 @ 1:41pm
  
  Re:
  I think you forgot to account for grains/potatoes, which would help account for those numbers not adding up to 300g/meal.
  
  On a side note, why is McD mentioned in an article about food? To my recollection from the last time I tried any, years ago, it has only a passing resemblance to foodstuffs.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Sep 2011 @ 2:21pm

In my mind potatoes/grains are vegetables, are they counted apart?

Vegetables = anything of vegetal origin.

Is that not the right definition?
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- Nom du Clavier (profile), 24 Sep 2011 @ 2:44pm
  
  Re:
  Technically I think you're right. They are generally counted as a separate food group, though; in stores similarly you don't tend to find bags of rice somewhere between the cucumbers and lettuce.
  
  So, probably, those weights/annum were separated out by food group?
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- Chosen Reject (profile), 26 Sep 2011 @ 1:34pm
  
  Re:
  Vegetables = anything of vegetable origin that isn't counted in another group. Cereals are not vegetables, culinary fruits* are not vegetables, nuts are not vegetables, nor is corn syrup, sugar, chocolate, vegetable oil/spread, and a great other number of things.
  
  *I'm so sick of the tomatoes-are-a-fruit-not-a-vegetable argument. "But it has seeds" they say. Fine, then cucumbers, squash, pumpkin, string beans, peas, etc are also fruits. In fact, by that definition, corn, wheat and barley are fruits also. Let's just all realize that culinary fruits are a subset of botanical fruits.
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  - Michael Ho (profile), 26 Sep 2011 @ 1:52pm
    
    Re: Re:
    FYI, the Supreme Court ruled that tomatoes are vegetables (for import customs purposes)....
    
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nix_v._Hedden
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