There are 13 foods: meat, milk, beans, rice, flour, potatoes, tomatoes, bread, coffee, bananas, sugar, oil and butter. In Brazil, the amount of each ingredient varies according to the food tradition of three major areas of the country: the Southeast Region, the South/Center-West regions and the North/Northeast regions. But don’t expect to find exactly these ingredients in the kits that companies distribute to employees. “The food basket menus are defined in agreements between employers and employees and have little to do with this list”, says economist José Maurício Soares, from the Inter-union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (Dieese). So, what is the basic food basket for? “It is an abstract concept, which measures whether the purchasing power of the minimum wage is able to meet a person’s basic food needs for a month”, says sociologist Claudia Garcia Magalhães, from the City of São Paulo. In addition to not being a feast, the basket is low in certain nutrients: it does not fully meet the needs of vitamins and minerals, found in fruits and vegetables.
PRODUCTS OF ANIMAL ORIGIN
(6 kg of meat, 7.5 liters of milk)
Meat and milk are the great providers of protein. This nutrient helps build and maintain muscles, bones, blood, internal organs, skin, and the brain. All because proteins are essential for building new cells, promoting growth and increasing the body’s resistance to disease.
GRAINS
(3 kg of rice, 4.5 kg of beans and 1.5 kg of wheat flour)
In the basic basket, the most popular mix of Brazilian food has the primary function of providing carbohydrates, the “fuels” that send energy to the body
INDUSTRIALIZED PRODUCTS
(600 g coffee, 900 ml oil, 750 g butter, 3 kg sugar, 6 kg bread)
Oil and butter, the main industrialized products in the basket, are not just a source of fat. Their nutritional function is noble: they transport vitamins A, D, E and K throughout the body, protecting vital organs and the body against excessive heat loss.
VEGETABLES AND FRUITS
(6 kg of potatoes, 9 kg of tomatoes, 7 and a half dozen bananas)
This class of foods helps to meet the body’s need for fiber. The digestive system thanks you: fiber, despite having no nutritional or energy value, makes the absorption of food easier and more complete
Source: Katley Scarparo Morini, nutritionist at Hospital Sírio Libanês, in São Paulo
Obs.: Monthly quantities, taking into account the basic basket of the Southeast of Brazil
Regional menus…
Basic basket list varies according to local customs
MEAT
In the South/Midwest: 6.6 kg
In the North/Northeast: 4.5 kg
Because of the local tradition and the low temperatures in the South, the basic food basket in the region has more meat and more calories than in other regions.
FLOUR
In the North/Northeast: 3 kg
In the Southeast: 1.5 kg
The habits of northerners and northeasterners explain their predilection for flour, but an excess of this food can increase the level of triglycerides in the blood
POTATO
In the Southeast: 6 kg
In the North/Northeast: none
The North/Northeast has no potatoes, but gains in the amount of tomatoes: 12 kg, against 9 kg in other regions
…and international
Italian basket has alcoholic drink
WINE
Italy: a bottle
Brazil: none
In developed countries, purchasing power is greater and the basic basket has room for more refined items. The Italians, for example, drink wine, while the English are entitled to tea.
Source: Dieese