As globalization alters our relationship to food, photographer Gregg Segal has embarked on a global project asking kids from around the world to take his “Daily Bread” challenge. Each child keeps a detailed journal of everything they eat in a week, and then Segal stages an elaborate portrait of them surrounded by the foods they consumed. The colorful and hyper-detailed results tell a unique story of multiculturalism and how we nourish ourselves at the dawn of the 21st century.
From Los Angeles to Sao Paulo, Dakar to Hamburg, Dubai to Mumbai we come to understand that regardless of how small and interconnected the world seems to become each year, diverse pockets of traditional cultures still exist on each continent, eating largely the same way they have been for hundreds of years. It is this rich tapestry that Segal captures with care and appreciation, showcasing the page-after-page charm of Daily Bread. Contrasted with the packaged and processed foods consumed primarily in developed nations, questions about health and sustainability are raised and the book serves as a catalyst for consideration of our status quo.
There’s an old adage, “The hand that stirs the pot rules the world.” Big Food is stirring the pot for children all over the world. Nonetheless, there are regions and communities where slow food will never be displaced by junk food, where home-cooked meals are the bedrock of family and culture, and where love and pride are expressed in the aromas of stews and curries.
Gregg Segal studied photography and film at California Institute of the Arts, dramatic writing at New York University, and education at The University of Southern California. Segal’s photography has been recognized by American Photography, Communication Arts, PDN, Investigative Reporters and Editors, The New York Press Club, the Society of Publication Designers, and the Magnum Photography Awards. He is the recipient of the 2018 “Food Sustainability Media Award” sponsored by Thomson Reuters Foundation and Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition Foundation. Segal’s portraiture and photo essays have been featured in Time, GEO, Smithsonian, The Sunday Times Magazine, Le Monde, Fortune, National Geographic Adventure, Newsweek, and Wired, among others.
Bee Wilson is an award-winning food journalist and historian who writes for a wide range of publications including the Wall Street Journal and The Guardian. She is the author of six books on food-related subjects including First Bite: How We Learn to Eat and Consider the Fork. Her next book is The Way We Eat Now. She is the chair of Flavour School, a charity that offers sensory education to help change a child’s relationship with food for the better. She lives in Cambridge in the U.K.
