The United States is a nation of immigrants, so it makes sense that we would import a lot of our food from other countries. In fact, the U.S. is the world’s largest importer of food products. As you may have guessed from some of these examples, many of these imports come from places where agriculture isn’t exactly a booming industry—and sometimes can’t keep up with demand for certain products like cheese or wine due to climate change or other factors affecting their ability to grow crops in their native lands. So what exactly does America buy from around the world? And when will we start growing more tomatoes at home?
Tomatoes (Mexico)
Tomatoes are an important part of the American diet, but they’re also one of the most imported fruits. In fact, Mexico is the world’s biggest exporter of tomatoes and produces more than half of all tomatoes grown worldwide! The country’s tomato industry is worth over $2.5 billion USD annually. The industry employs more than 400,000 people in different capacities: from field workers to executives at large farms, who manage everything from growing techniques to transportation logistics.
Bananas (Guatemala)
Bananas are the most popular fruit in the United States, and they’re also one of our biggest imports. In fact, Guatemala is a major source of bananas for us–even though it’s also one of our biggest trading partners! Guatemala is the world’s largest producer of organic coffee and pineapples. In addition to their exports to North America, they export large quantities of these products as well as avocados and sugarcane to Europe, Asia and Africa.
Potatoes (Canada)
Canada is the largest exporter of potatoes, sending about 1.4 million metric tons every year to the United States, Mexico, China and Japan. Potatoes are an important part of a healthy diet because they contain potassium and fiber–and they taste great too!
Shrimp and Prawns (India)
Shrimp and prawns are a popular food in India, and they are prepared in many different ways. Shrimp curry, which is made with coconut milk and other spices including turmeric and ginger, is one of the most common ways to eat shrimp. Shrimp can also be deep fried or cooked with other ingredients like bell peppers or onions. Shrimp farming has been around since ancient times–the Chinese were farming them as early as 600 B.C.–but it wasn’t until recently that India really started producing large amounts of them domestically (in fact, 90% of all shrimp consumed worldwide comes from aquaculture). Most of this production takes place along coasts where there’s plenty of water: coastal areas around Mumbai have become hotspots for aquaculture because they have access both fresh water from rivers such as Daman Ganga River Basin and Arabian Sea saltwater via Mumbai Port Trust’s infrastructure .
Coconut Oil (Philippines)
Coconut oil is one of the most popular ingredients in many types of food products. It’s used in cooking and baking, it’s added to coffee and tea, and it’s even used as a spread on toast! Coconut oil has many health benefits: it’s high in saturated fat and cholesterol; however, recent studies suggest that these fats may not be as bad for you as we once thought. Coconut oil has also become an ingredient in many skin care products due to its moisturizing properties. It can be found in lotions, creams (for both face and body), shampoo/conditioner combos (these are sometimes called “co-washes”) and shaving cream formulas–just search for “coconut oil” on Amazon if you want some ideas about which brands offer these types of product lines!
Cheese (Italy)
Cheese is a food product made from milk. The word “cheese” can be used to describe a wide variety of dairy products, but in this case we’re talking about the kind you eat and enjoy on a daily basis. Cheese is an important part of Italian cuisine; there are hundreds of different types produced in Italy alone! The country is also one of the world’s largest producers and exporters–in fact, it makes nearly 30% (!!) of all cheese exported worldwide each year.
Tobacco (Brazil)
Tobacco is a plant grown and processed into the form of cigars, cigarettes and pipe tobacco. It’s also used to make chewing gum. The US imports most of its tobacco from Brazil–the world’s largest producer of the crop–but some comes from other countries as well. Brazil produces over 1.5 million tons of tobacco annually, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at the United Nations; that’s about 40% more than second-place China produces (1 million tons). The industry employs about 1 million people in Brazil alone, who earn around $2 billion per year on average for their efforts according to IBGE – Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica (The Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics). Brazil exports its product all over Europe, Africa and Asia as well as North America; it also sells quite a bit within South America itself thanks to free trade agreements between member nations like Mercosur.
Rice (Thailand)
You may not know that the United States imports rice from Thailand, but it does. In fact, the US is Thailand’s largest export market for rice and accounts for about a quarter of all Thai exports. As of 2014, over half of all US households ate Thai-grown rice at least once a week–and they paid an average price per pound that was $0.75 lower than domestic varieties.
Sheep Meat, (Australia)
Australia is the second largest exporter of sheep meat in the world, and the largest producer of wool. It’s also known for its opals, which are considered one of the most beautiful gemstones on earth.
And so, we have looked at the top 10 countries that we import food from and found that there are many similarities between them. For example, most of them are located in Asia and Latin America where agriculture is a major part of their economy. They also share similar crops such as rice or potatoes which can be grown anywhere in the world due to their adaptability. However, it’s interesting to see how different cultures influence what they eat through their traditions or religious beliefs (such as no pork in Islam).
