1. A market stall in London, UK A wide range of fresh fruits and vegetables are available in markets. A diet with a lot of fruit and vegetables can prevent deficiency diseases such as scurvy and may reduce the likelihood of developing heart disease and cancer. A balanced diet contains at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day (Health Education Authority). The last 20 years have seen a huge rise in supermarket shopping in the UK. Supermarkets offer consumers a huge choice of different foodstuffs under one roof and customers can choose from many different brands or varieties of the same product. Supermarket chains exert great power over the farmers from whom they buy their products in the South, for example by only buying vegetables that are a certain size and shape.

2. Fast food in Cairo, Egypt The photo shows an Egyptian family eating fast food on a visit to the swimming pool. International fast food is now widely available in Egypt, as in most other countries of the South. The presence of multinational ‘hamburger’ firms may not benefit local people, as such companies tend to import most of their ingredients (such as wheat for hamburger buns) and fast food may replace a healthier and cheaper local diet.

3. Pounding millet in Mewell village, Senegal Senegal is the most westerly country in Africa and is just a little bigger than England and Wales. Grains such as wheat, rice, maize and millet provide the staple diet for much of the world’s population. A grain is a grass which gives starchy seeds suitable for food, and grain must be pounded, or ground, into a flour before it can be cooked and eaten. In the South this work is usually done by women. Millet is well known for its ability to grow in poor soils with little rainfall and, once harvested, can be stored for many years. Men own the land in Senegal, while women do almost all the work and produce the food the family needs.

4. Cooking injera in Eritrea Eritrea is a small country on the Horn of Africa. Injera is a special kind of bread eaten in Eritrea. It is similar to a large, flat pancake and is made from teff (a local grain crop), wheat or sorghum. The grains are ground into flour, made into a sloppy dough, left for two days to ferment, and then fried in a large pan. Injera may be eaten with vegetable stew or zigni (a spicy meat stew), and here Golunge is cooking it over a wood stove.

5. Harvesting coffee in Peru Peru is a country on the west coast of Latin America. In Peru coffee is grown high up in the Andes on small farms or chacras. Whole families, including young people (such as Gisela, aged 10 who is pictured), are involved in the harvesting of the coffee cherries. Coffee is a favourite drink in the North, yet the people who grow it in the South often live in poverty.