When we sit down to a meal, we usually have a pretty good idea of how our food arrived on our plates. It might surprise you, however, to know how much water it takes for certain food to arrive at our tables. This amount represents a food item’s water footprint.

But did you know that 400 grams (or about 7/8 of a pound) of beef has a water footprint of 6,200 liters of water? According to calculations from Huffington Post, that’s quite a bit larger than broccoli’s water footprint, which takes 34 gallons per pound.

Thirty grams (or about one ounce) of almonds (or other nuts) use 100 liters of water to grow while two eggs need 300 liters of water.

It is important to keep these water footprints in mind when we consider certain areas of the world are experiencing water shortages or droughts. Reducing our consumption of foods with large water footprints can help address water shortages elsewhere.