Emiliano> so your weekly menu would cost me around 75$, almost two  
times what it costs you...but is that amount of food really enough for  
a week? I could easily eat that stuff (except for the eggs maybe) in a  
couple of days...

Wow on the prices!  Why would it cost that much more for food in  
Italy?  Guess I'll have to plan to bring extra money when I visit  
Piemonte next summer!

You're right to ask if that's enough food.  I left out the detail that  
I'm on one of my moderate protein experiments right now.  I can stand  
to lose about ten pounds or so, so I'm doing a diet where I eat  
100grams of protein a day and zero carbs.  Ends up being about 1500  
calories per day.  It would definitely not be sustainable for anyone  
in the long run -- but I have about 10-15 pounds I can spare to lose  
and which is therefore extra, unaccounted for fuel.  I will say that I  
do suspect that most of those near the poverty line also carry around  
waistline fuel that they cannot access due to high insulin levels...