Picture Show: You Are What You Eat

We purchase refrigerators the way we fill them: out of necessity—to preserve the milk; to keep the greens from wilting. But from the right vantage point, an open fridge is the perfect staging grounds for a discussion of consumption. And if the aphorism holds true—if we really are what we eat—then refrigerators are like windows into our souls. It's that sentiment that's at the heart of Mark Menjivar's inventive exploration of hunger, "You Are What You Eat," for which he photographed the contents of strangers' refrigerators. As you can see, whether it holds neatly ordered rows of labels-out condiments or zip-locked stacks of shot-and-gutted buck meat, there's almost certainly a narrative to a fridge's arrangement.



Owner of Defunct Amusement Park | Alpine, TX | 1-Person Household | Former WW II Prisoner of War | 2007



Carpenter/Photographer | San Antonio, TX | 3-Person Household | 12-Point Buck | 2008



Street Advertiser | San Antonio, TX | 1-Person Household | Lives on $432 fixed monthly income | 2007



Midwife/Middle School Science Teacher | San Antonio, TX | 3-Person Household (including dog) | First week after deciding to eat locally grown vegetables. | 2008



Retired Train Conductor | Jackson, MS | 1-Person Household | Started Meals on Wheels in his community | 2008



Red Cross Board Member | San Antonio, TX | 1-Person Household | Sleeps with a loaded .45 pistol on nightstand | 2008



Bar Tender | San Antonio, TX | 1-Person Household | Goes to sleep at 8AM and wakes up at 4PM daily. | 2008



Restaurant Owner | Waco, TX | 1-Person Household | Has a photographic memory for useless information. | 2009



Documentary Film Makers | San Diego, CA | 3-Person Household | Efforts have helped send millions of dollars to children in Uganda. | 2008



Botanist | Ft. Wayne, IN | 1-Person Household | Feels more comfortable among flora and fauna of his era than people. | 2008



Community Volunteer | San Angelo, TX | 1-Person Household | Completely blind and lives alone. | 2007



Anesthesiologist | Ft. Worth , TX | 3-Person Household | Youngest son works on lobster boat in Alaska | Day after Thanksgiving, 2007



Short Order Cook | Marathon,TX | 2-Person Household | She can bench press over 300lbs. | 2007



Graphic Designer/Print Shop Owner | 2-Person Household | Founder of www.DeliverUsFromLiberals.com | 2008



School Crossing Guard/Nursing Home Assistant | Austin, TX | 6-Person Household | Parents and 3 adult children live in an efficiency apartment. | 2007



Journalist/Designer/School Teacher | 3-Person Household | Austin, TX | Writes the obituaries for the local newspaper. | 2009



College Students | Waco, TX | 3-Person Household | Drummer for a Death Metal band. | 2009



High School Football Coach/Social Worker | Houston, TX | 2-Person Household | Counselor at LGBT crisis center. | 2008

Each caption is the title of the photograph above it.

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Are you a photographer with a project you would like to share with the GOOD community? Send a brief description and a few sample images (or a link) to photo [at] goodinc [dot] com, and we’ll take a look. If we like it, it might end up as one of our Picture Shows. We look forward to your submissions.