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[–] 90 points 5 days ago (12 children)

There is something weird about this plot. I think because the calories are normalized to weight and the price is normalized to calories, there is no interesting interaction between the two, looking at it feels like reading a table. You can check which food is expensive and which is calorie dense and that’s it. Perhaps it would be more interesting to look at if both calories and price were normalized to weight…

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  • [–] 39 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

    Just my 2c, but I think this is actually the correct way of graphing it, or at least one of the correct ways

    Price per gram is not a particularly useful metric when comparing across food types, because foods have highly variable energy density. It’s a really good metric when comparing various items of the same type, like two different brands of bagged lettuce, etc.

    But by charting the energy density on the bottom, and then the cost for that energy on the left, we have something that’s actually useful to think about. Right like if you’ve ever bought nuts and seeds, you know they’re super expensive. But by looking here we can tell at a glance that nuts and seeds as a whole are actually a great, cheap way to add calories to a meal, even to the point of being comparable to whole wheat spaghetti, which I think more people would already identify as cheap calories

    Could do the same thing for protein density/cost per protein and it would be very useful, I’d love to see that actually especially to see how some of the protein-heavy plants like peas and brussels compare to animal sources

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    [–] 1 point 2 days ago

    It would be more interesting to create an aggregated index of nutritional value/calories per dollar.

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  • [–] 18 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    Any reason to exclude dairy products besides eggs? Milk/cheese/yogurt/greek yogurt are staples almost everywhere.

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  • [–] 13 points 5 days ago (2 children)

    Do.... Do you think eggs are a dairy product?

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  • [–] 35 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    They're often considered one in grocery stores

    I am well aware they are not made from milk, thank you

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  • [–] 8 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    yeah have to agree with you here. where I am from it would be understood your talking about the grocer area. its like tomatoe being called a vegetable.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    Tomatoes are a vegetable....

    Vegetable is just a culinary term. There are plenty of botanical fruits that are culinary vegetables. Eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, squashes, cucumbers, avocados, olives, green beans, peas, corn....

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  • [–] 3 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    yeah exactly. they are technically one thing but known as another.

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  • [–] 6 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    Well it's more that "fruit" and "vegetable" aren't really separate things. All edible fruits are also vegetables. Vegetable is just any part of plants edible to humans. There's absolutely no such thing as a botanical vegetable.

    It's only that there is a botanical term for fruit (the seed-bearing reproductive part from the ovary of a flowering plant) and a culinary term for fruit (a sweet plant used in desserts and other sweet foods).

    A strawberry is not a botanical fruit, but considered a culinary fruit. Rhubarb is generally considered a culinary fruit, though it isn't a botanical fruit either.

    Then you have botanical fruits that are poisonous to humans, and are not vegetables either.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 days ago (1 child)

    yeah. which again is like the egg dairy thing. no one would call an apple a vegetable or a tomatoe a fruit in casual conversation unless they were being pendantic.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    I’ve never ever seen anyone actually group eggs with dairy in a culinary sense. They’re only like that in the store because we have to refrigerate eggs in the US, and that’s typically one of the only refrigerated sections.

    Most of the time the dairy section will also have all the refrigerated stuff like bread doughs, pie crusts, fresh pasta, pudding, and cookie dough too because they need the same refrigeration.

    Other countries that don’t wash eggs just have them on the shelf at room temp in their own aisle.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 days ago (1 child)

    yeah again im not talking culinary usage just casual usage. I might ask a worker in the store where the eggs are at but I might just ask where the dairy is to get eggs. dairy being a catchall grouping that has milk products and eggs.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    But that's not why you'd get the same answer. You'd get the eggs location when asking for dairy because they're in the same place. If you asked for where the car batteries were, you'd end up where the oil is but no one says batteries are a type of oil or vice versa. You just asked for something else in the same area

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  • [–] 1 point 5 days ago

    I really don't think that has the same level of association. your talking the automotive section of like a big box store. in an automotive store they may not be near each other. The dairy section having eggs goes back forever. Likely from the dawn of refrigeration. You could use the term automotive for batteries or oil just like you can use the term dairy for eggs or milk or cheese or yogurt.

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  • [–] [S] 16 points 5 days ago

    Sources:

    Tool: Microsoft Excel

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  • [–] 9 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    I see a lot of negativity so I will mention that I like it and its interesting. I kinda feel it would be better if the axis were switched but that is my only thing. I think dairy is a big thing that should be in it as well as would be sugar. Really surprised nuts seem to be on top over beans and carbs.

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  • [–] 8 points 5 days ago (2 children)

    Nuts have A LOT of calories. Some of them beat raw sugar for calorie density by a good margin.

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  • [–] 7 points 5 days ago (2 children)

    This graph is the opposite of beautiful, it’s not organized well, it’s a bad font, the colors aren’t great, and I’m not even sure what it’s actually supposed to be telling me.

    If you are on a budget for food focus on getting a complete protein not how many calories you’re taking in. Politics and opinions about meat aside, there are a lot of vegan meals that are cheap and have a complete protein.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 days ago

    The beautiful aspect of it is thst it's nice someone tried to make something so helpful in that regard, but the comments suggest it's not executed correctly to inform people in detail nor to be quick and snappy.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 days ago (1 child)

    I feel the axis should be switched. that feels more natural.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 days ago

    Well, Consider my corn cobbed.....

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  • [–] 4 points 5 days ago

    I'd like to see a third dimension, showing nutrient density.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 days ago*

    would be interesting to see what this looks like in other parts of the world. most nuts are extremely expensive here.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    Where the hell are avocados cheaper than apples and carrots?

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  • [–] 5 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    Its per 100 claories. Apples and carrots have basically no claories.

    The axes are a bit misleading. The x axis is kind of obsolete if you make y cost per calories. Cost per 100g on the y axis would make make the graph more interesting imo.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 days ago (1 child)

    I understand that, but avocados are moderately expensive where I live.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 days ago (1 child)

    Might be. I didnt check initially but did a quick search now. An average avocado weighs around 250g with 140kcal/100g, so thats 350kcal per avocado. The graph suggests 0.40$/100kcal which leads us to 1.40$/piece. That seems about right for where I live, cheap ones can go for 1€ but it depends on the store and season, 2€ is not uncommon.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 days ago (2 children)

    Is there something to be gleaned?

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  • [–] 13 points 5 days ago (4 children)

    If you're poor, eat stuff near the bottom. It will cost less for your daily requirements.

    If you're going hiking, eat stuff on the right. You won't have to carry so much to meet your daily requirements.

    Your daily calorie requirements vary based on how active and how big you are. The chart for men and women based on height is basically the same line; the average woman's requirements are lower since they're smaller on average, but we're made out of the same stuff and need the same food.

    As a diabetic, I would like this chart, but instead showing carbohydrates v. dietary fibre for common foods, so that I'd know what's best to eat without spiking my blood sugar.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 days ago
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