Newly released infographics show how the so-called “globalized diet” has emerged. It’s the story of massive change over the past 50 years in the foods people eat, of crop winners and losers, and most of all, of increasing similarity in the food supplies of countries worldwide. Here are five graphs that together describe some of the the most important changes in food diversity over the past five decade

Kammlade, Sara

Khoury, Colin K.

Navarro-Racines, Carlos E.

Navarro Racines, Carlos Eduardo

CGSpace

1960s 1980s 2000s01020304050Fat (g/capita/day)Cottons eed oilGroundnutCoconutsSoybeanPalm oil1961-1963 average 2007-2009 averageCompos it ion of  B razilian food s upply with regard to contr ibut ion tofat  f rom vegetable oils .   02004006008001000Calories (kcal/capita/day)SorghumM illetsW heatSorghumM illetsW heatCompos it ion of  t he Sudanes e food s upply wit h regard t ocont r ibut ion t o calor ies  f rom grains .1961-1963 average 2007-2009 averageIn Brazil the native groundnut has been replaced by soybean as the primary source of fat from plants.Global staples such as wheat and rice became more important in Sudan. Many sub-Saharan African countries with sorghum- and millet-based diets followed the same trend.Calor iesAfghanis tan Cameroon0500100015002000Calories (kcal/capita/day)W heatR iceB ananas  & plantainsGroundnutSorghumCas s avaPalm oilW heatB eansM aizeSugarR ice2009-2011 averageLeas t  divers e2009-2011 averageM os t  divers eFatKir ibat i India01020304050607080Fat (g/capita/day)CoconutsR ape & mus tardGroundnutSoybeanPalm oilR ice2009-2011 averageLeas t  divers e2009-2011 averageM os t  divers e1961-1963 average05001000150020002500Calories (kcal/capita/day)Animal ProductsW heatB eansM aizeSugarR ice2007-2009 averageAnimal ProductsSoybeanW heatB eansM aizeSugarR ice1961-1963 averageB ananas  & plantainsSweet  potatoesFermented bev.SorghumCas s avaB eansPeas2007-2009 averageB ananas  & plantainsSweet  potatoesFermented bev.PotatoesSorghumCas s avaB eansM aize1961-1963 averageAnimal ProductsR ice2007-2009 averageAnimal ProductsW heatM aizeSugarR iceNicaragua R wanda VietnamPercent  change in contr ibut ion [only crops  contr ibut ing 1% or  more to food s upplies  are s hown]50 years of changing diversity in global food suppliesBy Sara Kammlade, Colin K. Khoury and Carlos Navarro-Racines Newly released infographics show how the so-called “globalized diet” has emerged. It’s the story of massive change over the past 50 years in the foods people eat, of crop winners and losers, and most of all, of increasing similarity in the food supplies of countries worldwide. Here are ve graphs that together describe some of the the most important changes in food diversity over the past ve decades:Almost everybody eats a lot more than their grandparents did, and it’s more diverseGlobal food supplies are on average more than 500 calories per day, per person, larger than they were 50 years ago. They are also more diverse, with both a longer list of dierent food crops, and a more equal contribution to food supplies from each of those crops. Food supplies that were primarily based on single staples a half century ago, for instance rice in Southeast Asia, diversied over time to include other staples such as wheat and maize. The same was true for sorghum- and millet-based diets in sub-Saharan Africa, and maize-based diets in Latin America. Nicaragua (Figure 1), for example, reported a 52% increase from 1961 to 2009 in the number of crops contributing to calories in the national food supply, diversifying in particular by incorporating more rice, wheat, soybean, palm oil, and other oil crops. Figure 1: Change in the diversity of food supplies of Nicaragua, Rwanda, and Vietnam from 1961 to 2009.One big caveat- we were only able to assess crops reported in FAO national food supply data, which are limited to measuring 52 crop-specic foods. While these include the most important crops globally, they certainly don’t cover all the plants that people eat. Crops not explicitly listed are either thrown into general categories such as “cereals, other” or aren’t measured at all, especially if they are only produced on a small scale, for local markets or in home gardens. We need better statistics about what people eat around the world, especially since studies have shown that many locally relevant crops that are invisible in global statistics are disappearing from diets.Comparing countries’ current food supplies, we found that both the most and the least diverse were largely nations in Africa and Asia, and on small islands. Looking both at the number and the relative contribution of each of the plants listed in each nation’s food supply, Cameroon (Figure 2), Nigeria and Grenada had the world’s most diverse food supplies with regard to calories. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Cambodia, meanwhile, had the least, with Afghanistan listing only 30 plants, and with 74% of these calories from wheat alone.If there were crop “winners” over the past 50 years, among these would be the “mega-crops” (wheat, rice, maize and sugar), which maintained their global importance. The biggest winners, though, were oils such as soybean, palm, sunower and rapeseed, which progressed from regional signicance to global dominance as contributors to calories and fat over ve decades (Figure 3). As the winners came to take more precedence in food supplies around the world, traditional cereals such as sorghum, millets, and rye, and starchy roots such as cassava, sweet potatoes, and yam, were marginalized.The diversication of countries’ food supplies over the past 50 years seems to have largely come about by introducing exotic plants that were originally domesticated in far ung regions of the world. For example, traditional rice-based diets in Southeast Asia diversied to include more non-traditional staples such as wheat (originally from West Asia) and maize (Mesoamerica). In related research on the origins of food crops, we found that about 69% of plants consumed around the world are “foreign” in the sense that they originated elsewhere. Countries’ consumption of crop “immigrants” signicantly increased over the past ve decades, especially in nations that developed new agricultural production industries based on these exotic plants. Brazil’s investment in the cultivation of soybean, a crop with origins in East Asia, massively increased the availability of the crop - and of vegetable oil in general - in the country’s food supply, while marginalizing traditional plant fats such as groundnut/peanut (Figure 4).  Figure 4: Increasing importance of “foreign” crops in national food supplies.As countries’ food supplies became more diverse, particularly by increasing the consumption of exotic crops that originated in distant regions of the planet, the global food supply became much more similar. African, Asian, and Pacic Island countries remain the furthest distance from this convergence, and pull the current global average diet (center) a small distance away from the main cluster (Figure 5). In the current decade, the nations that most closely reect the global average diet include Cape Verde, Colombia, and Peru. While the gure clearly shows that there is no such thing, in reality, as a global average diet, the movement of countries over time closer to this center bolsters the argument that a global average diet has more validity now that it did 50 years ago. The comprehensive study of changing diversity in national food supplies encompassed more than 50 crops and over 150 countries (accounting for 98 per-cent of the world’s population) during the period 1961-2009. A collaboration between CIAT, the Crop Trust, Wageningen University, and the University of British Columbia, the project was funded by the Crop Trust. The work was originally published in PNAS: Khoury et al. 2014. Increasing homogeneity in global food supplies and the implications for food security. PNAS 111(11): 4001-4006. doi: 10.1073/p-nas.1313490111.African, Asian, and small island countries have both the world’s most and least diverse dietsFigure 2: African, Asian, and small island countries have the world's most diverse food supplies. Also the least.Crop immigrants are key to increasing dietary diversityCountries’ food supplies have become much more similarVisit the Changing Global Diet websiteFor a deeper exploration of change in the diversity of plant foods that people have eaten around the world over the past 50 years, check out the Changing Global Diet website at http://ciat.cgiar.org/the-changing-global-diet/. We’d love to hear from you about interesting patterns you nd #changingglobaldiet  Figure 5: Increasing similarity in national food supplies from 1961 to 2009.-1 0 0 % -5 0 % 0 % 5 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 5 0 % 2 0 0 % 2 5 0%Figure 3: Change in the relative contribution of crops to calories in national food supplies on average across countries worldwide.Animal Products  (Total)B ananas  & plantainsVegetables  (other)Sweet  potatoesPuls es  (other)Fruits  (other)R oots  (other)B ar ley & beerGroundnutSu nfl owerCoconutsPotatoesSorghumSoy beanCas s avaPa lm oilM illetsWheatB eansM aizeSugarR iceAnimal Products  (Total)B ananas  & pl nta insVegetables  (other)Sweet  potato esPuls es  (other )Fruits  (other)R oots  (oth er)B ar ley & beerGroundnu tSunfl owerCoconu tsPotatoesSorghu mSoybeanC s s a vaPalm oilM ille tsW heatB eansM aizeSugarR iceCalories (kcal/capita/day)Animal Products  (Total)Cas s avaW heatM aizeSugarR ice2000-2009 averageHere' s  what  the global averagediet  looks  like:02000100025001500500Each dot represents a country’s average food supply with regard to calories in a given decade, including both the number of crops and animal products, and their relative contributions to the food supply. The farther apart dots (countries) are, the more their food supplies dier, with countries at the edges varying most from the global average diet (center).

50 years of changing diversity in global food supplies

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50 years of changing diversity in global food supplies

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