Photographer Compares 14 Fridges And Their Owners Around The World

By Joseph Muna

Updated on November 12, 2021

This photographer compares what people from different households around the world keep in their fridges.

What you have in your fridge can reveal a lot about you, even beyond your eating habits.

For instance, it can tell whether you are too lazy or busy to cook. Or if cooking is your serious pastime.

It can also reveal whether you are a vegan or vegetarian, perhaps. And in most cases, it can tell us about your lifestyle in general.

If you're always curious to know what's in someone's fridge, then this Show Me Your Fridge project will spark your interest.

Sandra Juncker — a German designer, photographer, and gluten-free, healthy food lover — decided to peek into people's fridges to find out how much the contents of a fridge can tell about their lives. And here are the results.

#1 Pretoria, South Africa, 2016

photographer compares 14 fridges and their owners around the world

#2 Germany, 2012

Since 2012 Sandra visited people from London, Cape Town, Pretoria, Istanbul, Madrid, Paris, and Berlin and took pictures of their fridges.

In her project, she targeted people from different personalities, cultures, traditions, ages and social statuses.

Speaking of what inspired her project, Sandra said:

"This series is about fridges, a space which people use probably more than three times a day without a greater intention."

"So what does this tell us about the people who use these fridges? Do we have a special system filling it?"

"What belongs in our fridges, and what do we eat? Is there any difference or similarity between different cultures, countries, ages, or flat sharing? Do we keep leftovers, and how do we store them?"

She added:

"The trend goes even more now towards responsible handling of food like bio-produced items or special diets. Do we see this in our fridges? Are we finding our fridges filled with a superfluous amount of food where we end up taking from the first row and forgetting about the rest?"

"Within the past few years, the topic of food has been the main focus of my interests. So it's even more important to me that I did this series of fridges with their owners."

#3 London, UK, 2016

#4 London, UK, 2017

It might be inaccurate to judge someone based on their fridge's contents. But you can somehow guess to whom they belong by just looking at the items inside.

According to Sandra's project, the biggest fridge packed with all sorts of pre-cooked meals belonged to a grandma. A secret compartment with chocolate probably for spoiling grandchildren belonged to an elderly German couple.

Meanwhile, a young couple's fridge from busy Paris had barely anything inside.

#5 Paris, France, 2017

#6 Paris, France, 2017

Sandra is invested in the global topics of food, such as modern trends of responsible food handling and waste.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, more than 1.3 billion tons of food is lost or wasted every year.

Food waste often occurs due to bad shopping habits, poor meal planning, and the confusion over 'best before' and 'use by' labels. It also happens due to poor storage.

We can reduce the impacts of food wastages, including pollution and costs, by starting with our own fridges.