Sunday 26 December 2010

Waddle Forward, Nauru!

...and take first place in the race for 'fattest nation':
According to the latest data from the World Health Organisation (WHO), Pacific island nations occupy the top seven places in the global obesity rankings.
Oh, well, at leasat we won't hear any rubbish about capitalism and unhealthy Western diets from the usual susp...

Oh.
Clive Moore, a South Pacific expert at the University of Queensland, says that in Polynesian countries generous proportions are seen as a sign of prosperity. In the past, only chiefs achieved a large girth; nowadays, with higher incomes and Western diets, it has become far more common to be fat.
*sigh*
At the Pacific Food Summit in Vanuatu this year, Temo Waqanivalu, a senior WHO official, bemoaned the decline of traditional foods. "They are unable to compete with the glamour and flashiness of imported food," he said.
It's all our fault. Again.

10 comments:

Quiet_Man said...

yes it's obviously our fault that the fat buggers can't control their dietary habits.
The failure of third world willpower is obviously something that needs to be addressed and huge sums in compensation, salaries and benefits for the necessary bureaucracy to administer it should be ripped from the taxpayers in the west who are obviously to blame for everything...

/sarcasm

Pavlov's Cat said...

bemoaned the decline of traditional foods. "They are unable to compete with the glamour and flashiness of imported food," he said.

And they often taste like shit as well.

As anyone who has tried Poi or Natto can tell you

In most cases they are only 'traditional' as that was the only food availiable, as soon as a tastier alternative comes along they are dropped.

Andy H said...

The people of Nauru should look on the bright side. When the rising sea levels leave them underwater, at least they'll float.

ivan said...

Having lived and worked in the islands for a large number of yearsI can say that Pavlov's Cat is correct but we must also take into consideration the WHO agenda. After all they are the people that cry wolf about pandemics, that want everyone bred into good obedient workers for those better than us.

Greencoat said...

It may seem to be be our fault but surely Israel is the real villain here.

DJ said...

Hmmmmm... if being El Lardo was a sure sign of wealth and influence back in the Golden Age, doesn't that kind of imply that the default condition for the average islander was borderline starvation?

Now, thanks to the West, food's so cheap, even poor people can afford way more than they need. Yay us!

JuliaM said...

"The failure of third world willpower is obviously something that needs to be addressed and huge sums in compensation, salaries and benefits for the necessary bureaucracy to administer it should be ripped from the taxpayers in the west who are obviously to blame for everything..."

You say '/sarcasm'. I see a PLAN!

"In most cases they are only 'traditional' as that was the only food availiable, as soon as a tastier alternative comes along they are dropped."

Can anyone blame them? As DJ points out, this is, actually, progress. The fact that the progressives don't like it shows you just how inaccurate the name is...

"It may seem to be be our fault but surely Israel is the real villain here."

I guess some things defy even the UN. But I'm sure they are working on unearthing a connection!

Rob said...

The latest Progressive dream: taking food from poor people

David Gillies said...

I read somewhere that Pacific islanders got hooked on Spam when it became available during WW2 as the island-hopping campaign progressed and are now the world's largest (!) per-capita consumers of Mr Hormel's most estimable tinned slaughterhouse leavings errr I mean minced pig product.

blueknight said...

surrounded by sea so let them eat hake...