Que GorditaCulture and the Etiology of Obesity

Author: Emily MassaraPresenter: Frank Doering

Puerto Rican Women: gaining age and gaining weight

• Age 25 and younger: 13.3% obesity rate• Age 26 – 39: 60.6% obesity rate• Age 40 – 80: 66.7% obesity rate

Why a 47.3% increase in obesity in the middle-aged period?

26 to 39 is an age range in Puerto Rican culture that has many “positive connotations” for

increased appetite and weight gain in women• Common age bracket for marriage• Exemplifies a women’s “tranquility” and

health• Implies a happy and problem-free life,

Or• conceals stressful personal afflictions;

possibly, mid-life crisis (not so positive)

Puerto Rican Culture and obesity

From the Article:

“cultural values and patterns surrounding the domains of family, sex role organization, food and health shape perceptions about the cause, significance and effects of weight gain, which, in turn, contribute to the cause of obesity.” (in women)

Culturally provoked causes:• The role of the “good wife” and mother (later, explained in detail)• Culturally induced stress (later, explained)• Cultural norms provide little to no negative consequences for

weight gain in women as they move through life—“heavier is healthier”

• Migration—interestingly, it is the prevailing cultural values that play a role in weight gain for/during the migration process

• Obesity-related diseases not associated with obesity• Being thin or fit implies malnutrition or poor health• Women see being “culturally-defined” as heavy or obese an

advantage in male/female relationships• P.R. is still traditional—women stay in the kitchen and prepare,

cook, and serve food 2-3 times a day• “Heaviness” assures asexuality and self-preservation in social

settings. Meaning, that married couples can extend their social lives without jeopardizing their status’s as “good-wife” and “breadwinner”

Marriage context

Puerto Rican women commonly presume it as a duty to add some pounds to their form after marriage

• Visible sign that husband is an adequate provider, also confirming his new manhood status as “breadwinner” for his wife and child/ren

• To “enhance shapeliness, vitality, and health”• an extra 15-20 lbs on a newly wed wife, who

currently lies in the “normative weight range,” is usually a favored attraction for the men and husbands of the P.R. society

• No longer care for physical appearance when caring for the family is the main objective in her life

Part cultural and part marital, carrying the status of “good wife” and mother is a vital concept in the everyday role of the Puerto Rican married woman. Accompanying that rank is an overwhelming increase to food exposure

“The Good Wife”

A Husband’s input• showing her husband she is a “good cook”• preparing bountiful amounts of traditional P.R. foods• Husband will demand “special dishes” or that she cooks him a meal, after already eaten elsewhere, to “satisfy him”• Husband insists on the wife joining him in an additional meal in the late evening

The Good Mother

Being a good mother is just as fundamental in P.R. culture as being a good wife

• Pregnant women increase their food intake as a means to care and nurture their unborn child

• The mother is preoccupied with providing the essential care and “nurturance” to her children, causing food exposure to increase even more in her emotional and social life

• As the family expands adding more children, food exposure increases even more; again

• All the time spent caring for her family leaves a wife/mother with no time to enjoy a meal, herself—causing excessive snacking, resulting in a high caloric intake in a short period of time

Stress and weight gain

• Culturally-induced stress can be a major factor in the “excessive” weight gain of a woman. To

maintain her “good wife” status, women will keep a smile on their face, not socially express their

unhappiness, and tend to bottle their “socially unacceptable” emotions inside. The result is an inward expression of those feelings---excessive overeating, among other things. As long as the

woman appears happy on the outside, weight gain will continue

Conclusions:

Puerto Rican cultural comfort, even praise, for being fat is not healthy or acceptable

Physician and patient need to redefine and resist extreme obesity

- you need not stray away from your basic cultural diet, possibly harming social status, just stay away from excessive amounts

To oppose Stress-related extreme eating:- Exercise instead! Exercising provides muscle toning and weight loss,

while simultaneously acting as the necessary “outlet” for all that pent up stress…do it in your home so you can let out some screams and cuss words if needed

- Social setting/culture need to become a channel for relieving stress, not a restriction

Conclusions, continuedWhat about the good wife?

Until P.R. culture changes their norms of heaviness being a sign of marital happiness and progress, and weight gain as healthy, sexy, and favorable,

the “good wife” is out of luck for using these remedies in battling excessive weight gain.

• Marry a man who is okay with you not being fat, I guess is your only option…you may not fit the cultural standards, but at least your family will love you

Soul, Black Women, and Food

Author: Marvalene H. Hughes(yes, an African American Woman)

Presenter: Frank Doering(not an African American woman)

• The Womens Liberation movement and sex revolution marked a period in U.S. history in which people searched back in time for answers to their identity, or “roots.”

• The author, Hughes, believes the show Roots largely contributed to this new-found personal “quest” to learn one’s own ‘ancestral culture and genetic origin.”

• African Americans use “soul food” as an essential device in search of “roots.”– Black history has been handed down through oral tradition--

at family events—where soul food is prepared and served– A black woman’s “meal preparation conveys her expression

of love, creativity, patience, historical struggles, and her own “African heritage.”

Defining the “roots” of soul food• Roots--stabilized in the dirt, beneath a plant—represent

what “soul food” is• Actual plant roots—yams or sweet potatoes– have been

the staple of African American diet since the 1500s.• Throughout the slave trade Africans stowed seeds to carry

their tradition of root foodstuffs– Some of these African native seeds have become as American as

apple pie (southern states, mostly)• Watermelon, okra-an essential seasoning in gumbo

• Cherishing their native seeds through slave trade transportation may be the most symbolic representation of preserving African American ethnicity through “soul food.”

Pride in cooking and robust tummies• Classic soul foods originated from the white man’s

“throwaways” –pig’s feet, chitlins, hog jowl, etc…-Black women were able to make something delicious out of nothing

• Black women gain self-confidence in watching family, friends, consumers, even white folk devour their cooked meals full of “soul”

• A “plump” midsection proves a black woman’s skill and craft in the kitchen

• “Big is beautiful” to Black Americans-represents health and prosperity

• Receiving praise from children/grandchildren is much appreciated by a black woman…feeding family makes a black woman the “happiest”

Black Women in the American Kitchen

• Started as illiterate slaves needing recipes read to them– Relied on basic senses, “soulful intuition” and “cultural

knowledge”– No measuring…dashes, pinches, a scoop

• Therefore, recipes passed orally– Allowed creativity– Mixing of African traditions with white cooking techniques

• secretly passes slave tastes into white mouths

– Home cooked soul-food still observed, even culturally preferred in a world of “eating out”• Less eating out stereotypes a black family as economically

deprived, though– Suburban black families will even travel to the “ghetto”

in search of fresh soul food• Whether you live in the ghetto or in the suburbs, the same

foods are still served at your barbeques – The core of black culture is expressed in soul food• “soul” is part of African American origin that has been

culturally consistent throughout history– After human layers have been peeled the impenetrable “sapphire”

shines…that is soul!

– Fresh fruits and veggies• Black women cultivate a seasonal garden full of soulful fruits

and veggies like: squash, watermelon, string beans, green peas, radishes, beets, sweet corn, tomatoes

Personal fulfillment of planting and harvesting a garden

– A sense of pride– Takes on back to family roots– Can become “reconnected with African culture in

a private, intimate, and historical sense– Provides a “spiritual” connection to the earth– Serves as a “channel” for African respect for land

and living things

Western culture confusing Blacks

• American culture is full of labels:– Good v. bad, black v. white, pretty v. ugly, educated v.

uneducated, privileged v. underprivileged, etc…– When blacks accept these labels, they are perpetuating black

oppression– Even using these labels on one another

• Opposing labels portray an intolerance toward African roots as westerners impose their will and culture over the African American culture (any non-white culture)– No such thing as a “melting pot” in America– We do not blend cultures– No matter prepares it, though, soul food is soul food

• Just as blacks adopted western techniques, Americans have adopted black kitchen behaviors

Cooking as a profession

• Blacks tend to not gain any strides toward economic development– Gap between professional advancement has

widened– Many blacks, mostly women, still working in white

kitchens (privately or commercially)• still nurturing the white folk and still destined for

poverty• a continuation of slavery

Soul Food and Religion

• Unlike many religions, food and religious/spiritual rituals go hand-in-hand – Eating during a ritual religious experience describes a

special celebration for blacks – Spiritual=soulful; African Americans, without soul food,

would not be who they are today

• The black preacher is very special person– Responsible for passing oral history– Always gets first choice at the meal part of any religious doings

Sharing

• Due to social discriminations, blacks could not go into restaurants until the 60s– Packed lunches and shared with one another

• A core of black food celebrations is sharing– Ex. A hog killing is a community event in which all

partake• One of few events that constitutes clear gender roles

Gender roles• Cooking is a role of both men and women because

it is an essential occupation in black economic survival

• Black women sometimes have to take on the role of economic provider for herself and family

• She is still the dominant character in the kitchen

What’s for dinner, momma?

• When a black man asks this question, he is “paying her the highest possible compliment”– No perverse connotations with this expressions– It implies that “momma” is providing the

nourishing food for the spirit and physical individual

3 daily meals in the black kitchen:• Breakfast- morning- homemade biscuits, grits, ham

or bacon, molasses, fresh milk, fresh eggs, fried chicken, or pork chops

• Dinner- around noontime- collard greens with “pot licker” bread, potatoes, fresh-squeezed lemonade, meat, cobbler (canned or fresh fruits)

• Supper- a lighter meal in evening- creamy fruits, biscuits, ice cream, fried chicken, creamed potatoes, fresh buttermilk

• Snacks: cornbread, baked corn, fresh fruits and veggies

Nutrition• Most foods served in any of the 3 meals are

nutritious– Inherited from Africa and emphasized by slave

masters (wanted their salve machines to be running well)

– Can be viewed as an economic choice• Although mostly nutritious, soul food is

sometimes connected to high blood pressure and other diseases among blacks– But Hughes suggests that those diseases are more

correlated with social and economic settings

Black, female body

• The stereotype- “Aunt Jemima”– Although the white ideal is a slim and petite body

on a woman, this plays no importance to a black woman

– Hughes is 5’4” 120 pounds and her mother is consistently worried about her weight

– With constant oppression from the surrounding society, food can become an escape for black women

Pleasure of eating and feeding• Black women may “stuff their mouths full of

food” to escape the oppressive realities she lives in– This act is has been defined as a coping device for a

psychological “feeling of emptiness”– Overeating to cope with emotional stress– Feeding family and loved ones has become one of

very few pleasures a black women may experience in the severely deprived and economically depressed black community she lives in• Soul food preparation and indulging may only be a short-

term pleasure, but short-term pleasure is better than no pleasure

• The soul shall live on