Nom Chomsky

Infographic: Price X Nutrition of Junk Food and Real Food

It’s widely known that the poorer you are, the more likely you are to be obese. The chart below jumps off of the obesity research of Adam Drewnowski who found that a single dollar could buy more calories of junk food rather than healthy food. He found that a dollar can get someone 1,200 calories of cookies or potato chips, but only 250 calories of carrots.

This is a really difficult point to get across. The associations of eating healthy are with small portions of lean ingredients sourced from expensive retailers like Whole Foods. However, a little education can go a long way to feed more people, better, and support local producers at the same time.

While teaching people how to cook for themselves is important, I think the most important food education we need in this country is how to shop. A family’s budget is more relateable, consequential, and telling than any nutritional statistic.