Carb Contest

Food • Data • Dataviz

Apr 22

All carbohydrates are beautiful.
Let’s give them a round of applause!

It’s time to talk about food.
We are going to be dramatic and use up our production budget.

An auditorium. Lights dim, music playing, the crowd murmuring in anticipation. There is electricity in the air. Suddenly, everything goes silent and dark. The crowd whispers quiet down. Spotlights flood the stage as the glossy, shimmering curtains are pulled to reveal... carbohydrates. It’s a beauty contest.

“All carbs are beautiful,” the host announces (I’m the host, I love all carbs).
“Let’s welcome tonight’s contestants with a round of applause!”

Cheers and applause erupt in the auditorium as carbohydrates; complex and simple, staples from all over the world, walk in their finest attire.

As the host, I remind you: “We aren’t looking for a winner tonight, as you’re all beautiful.” The carbs nod and smile in agreement. This exhibition show is for charity.

What’s on the agenda for tonight’s show?
Four feats of strength and beauty:

• Caloric value

• Cost

• Sustainability

• Glycemic Index
  

Let’s take a moment to learn more about our lovely contestants.

Table view of carbohydrates

Our contestants

Many carbohydrates from around the world wanted to join us tonight, but for this special charity contest, we only picked 6 lucky participants:

• 🥖 Flatbread

• 🥔 Potatoes

• 🍚 Rice

• 🌿 Quinoa

• 🍝 Pasta

• 🥣 Oats

For most of them, the judges will evaluate 100g for calories, but for sustainability and cost we’ll use 50g, as their yield doubles once cooked.

What will the winner get?
The crowd loses it when they hear the award…
1kg of butter donated to their favorite charity!

Ready for the first event?

Calories per 100g

Round 1: Calories

We start on a controversial topic: calories.

A quick disclaimer by your host:

Often, carbs get a bad reputation in nutrition. That they’ll make you gain weight or that your body doesn’t actually need them. But carbs are essential fuel for us. Carbs are broken down into sugars that the body uses as energy. The problem starts when we have extra energy we don’t need, and this gets stored in the body thus leading to weight gain.

That being said, the judges can now rank our contestants.
🥔 Potatoes is the first one highlighted with the lowest calories, followed by 🌿 Quinoa and 🍚 Rice, with 🍝 Pasta right behind them. On the next tier, 🥖 Flatbread stands alone, and finally, 🥣 Oats step forward with the highest calorie count.

The audience claps, but the judges still seem divided. Some support lower- calorie options as they need to be mindful of their weight, while others opt for more calories to fuel their intense cardio sessions.

We love a bit of controversy! The carbs smile knowingly.
They’re used to dealing with both criticism and demonstrations of undying love.

Let’s move on to the next event!

Cost in euros per 100g

Event 2: Cost

More drama! The judges have to adjust the rules to properly evaluate our contestants. It seems the differences are barely there. After some deliberation, the new rubric accounts for how low the prices of carbs can be.

The rubric is considering numbers from Germany, specifically Munich. These numbers were obtained from a local supermarket chain that offers online ordering in early 2025. The same source of truth for a certain martial arts tournament organized by the same production company... see it here!

The judges request the carbs to step forward one by one.
Wait a second…the crowd gasps!

Carbs made up from more than one ingredient are on both ends of the scale.
🍝 Pasta is ranked as the least expensive carb, 🥔 Potatoes and 🍚 Rice follow almost at the same time, and a few seconds later it’s 🥣 Oats. 🌿 Quinoa waits a bit more, perhaps because of transportation and export costs, and then finally it’s 🥖 Flatbread.

Wow, the margin is so narrow! We’re competing for cents!
All beautiful carbs are very mindful of your budget and wallet.
They know this as well and smile full of pride as we prepare for the next event!

Water footprint in L per 100g

Event 3: sustainability

We are at another very close event. The judges are working tirelessly to adjust our scale once again. While they review the rubric, let me give some context to our audience.

Our carbs are mostly vegan! Only 🥖 Flatbread and 🍝 Pasta could contain animal products like butter or eggs. However, the overall amount of water needed is not a lot, especially when you place it in context with other foods like 🥩 Beef steak, which, for reference, needs over 1500 liters of water per 100g.

The rubric the judges are working on rates sustainability based on the food’s water footprint, meaning the amount of water needed to produce 100g. These are rounded estimates and serve as a starting point. Keep in mind that a high water footprint doesn’t account for transportation costs or other emissions related to production and distribution.

Another thing we can consider here is social perception and global trends. Let’s make a special mention of 🌿 Quinoa, which became very popular a few years ago as it was being marketed as a superfood. (Side note: this is a marketing term, not a scientific one.) Although 🌿 Quinoa is a very healthy food that also contains a bit of protein, the hype around it increased so much that it affected prices globally. You can read more about superfoods here.