The wealthiest Americans spent much more in 2009 just eating at restaurants than the nation’s poorest spent on all their food for the year.
Americans' richest households, representing the top 20 percent of earners, spent $10,780 on food in 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey. About half of that was spent at restaurants and the like.
By contrast, the nation’s poorest American households, representing the bottom 20 percent of incomes, only spent $3,501 total on food during the year. Only about one-third of that was spent eating out.