Roly-poly children seem to be everywhere

March 13, 2003 11:47 AM

American cultural hegemony strikes again. (NYT reg. req.) Asian children exposed to an American-made high-sugar, high-fat, pre-processed, fast-food diet now seem to be coming up with American diseases: obesity, diabetes, things like that. My fascination with the article is caused not so much by its content as it is by its tone, though: Known in Chinese as "xiao pangzi," or "little fatties," these roly-poly children seem to be everywhere, the pampered victims of cultures that prize them as emblems of affluence and well-being. Do I sense a certain smugness in this article? Is the author sarcastically reading this as a triumph of American values?
posted by Prospero (18 comments total)

Cultural hegemony? Which U.S. Marine Division is over there forcing kids to eat at the Beijing KFC? Why wasn't I informed?
posted by luser at 12:07 PM on March 13, 2003

DNFTT
posted by techgnollogic at 12:23 PM on March 13, 2003

"Cultural hegemony"? Sure we got plenty of that around here, but the title of the article is "Clustering in Cities, Asians are becoming obese" and it goes on to talk about the "little emperors"--a result of China's one child policy. The author points up interesting structural/policy reasons for the trend, so you can't just pin this one on KFC. Interesting article, but misleading post description.
posted by donovan at 12:38 PM on March 13, 2003

I don't detect any smugness in the author's tone, Prospero, and it's certainly no "triumph in American values". A society that is generally inactive and has a high-fat, high-sugar, highly processes diet will be one in which there's lots of obesity.

It's going to be interesting to see how this generation of "little emperors" changes China. China will be populated by adults who were pampered and catered to as children - how will they relate to each other? What kind of society and government will they create?
posted by orange swan at 12:51 PM on March 13, 2003

Do I sense a certain smugness in this article? Is the author sarcastically reading this as a triumph of American values?

"We spoil him," said Warisa Waid, a Thai teacher in Bangkok, of her 11-year-old son, Saharat, whose father is an ethnic Thai-Chinese. "Whatever he wants, we give it to him. We don't care if it is good or bad, we just feed him whatever he wants

Anyone feel this article could be read, as: Mrs & Mrs John Doe blame, {your favorite fast-food-chain} for their fat child, yet the child begs us for {your favorite fast-food-chain}, and we know it's unhealthy. But what to do, to still be a good parent?

"Plus his lifestyle," she added. "He spends most of his time in front of the TV, playing video games and watching cartoons."

That is not american lifestyle, playing sports is, or was. Who makes the video games & cartoons?
posted by thomcatspike at 1:00 PM on March 13, 2003

Interesting article, but misleading post description.

Well it wouldn't be metafilter without four or five anti American post a day, and sometimes you just have to stretch the truth in order to maintain the average. It's hard work, but the war against America requires sacrifice.
posted by Beholder at 1:43 PM on March 13, 2003

donovan: while my post description isn't identical to the way that the article advertises itself, it gets at what I feel is the current running beneath the article's surface--the author seems to me to be interesed in the fact that the high-fat diet causing obesity is not indigenous to Asia, but imported from the West, and alludes in one paragraph that part of the problem is that Asian countries now have the diet of the West without the attendant health care. There's also the statements about Asians adopting American beauty standards:

Even as they eat, however, many of these people long to be slim. As in the West, the bloating of Asia has been accompanied by a slimming of the ideal of beauty. As American fast-food chains spread through Asia they are being followed by a proliferation of gyms, slimming programs, diet pills and liposuction.

From Taiwan to Thailand, models and movie stars look like their counterparts in the West, long-boned waifs, never satisfied that they are thin enough.

As for the sarcasm: would any meaning in the sentence I quoted from the article be sacrificed if you removed the word "roly-poly"? Or replaced it with "obese," or "overweight," or even "fat"? That seems gratuitous to me.
posted by Prospero at 1:48 PM on March 13, 2003

I believe the term you're looking for, Prospero, is "cultural imperialism," which is an expansion of popular culture that occurs when more forceful cultural ideas (e.g., those that have big marketing pushes) overtake traditional ideas and values. American companies' desire for expanding markets fuels a lot of it, but not always: when Russian teens went bonkers for Levi's in the 1980's it was of their own doing, and that was labeled cultural imperialism as well.

Bottom line: Quarter Pounders taste fucking awesome. They're really bad for you, and they represent a near-total homogenization of society, but damn--they're tasty.
posted by vraxoin at 1:54 PM on March 13, 2003

when Russian teens went bonkers for Levi's in the 1980's it was of their own doing, and that was labeled cultural imperialism as well.

Funny what foreigners think is American, because their country does not have it.

PS, Thai food is big around my home right now; there have been 4 new restaurants seen opened in the last couple of months within miles of each other. Now compared to two popular fast food chains closing their doors, I have to wonder what is american, the food or the opportunity.
posted by thomcatspike at 2:14 PM on March 13, 2003

Bottom line: Quarter Pounders taste fucking awesome. They're really bad for you, and they represent a near-total homogenization of society, but damn--they're tasty.

I am sure there are many factors involved in people choosing to eat at KFC or McDonalds the least of which has anything to do with the food tasting good.

It is interesting to see the effect these American culinary exports are having on the wasteline of Chinese youth. But I am hopefull that eventually the interest in this type of "food" will diminish and the youth here can go back to eating rancid fried chicken served from a small stand on the street corner. Just like they did before KFC arrived and thereby forstalling obesity until they reach there fathers age.
posted by cmacleod at 2:37 PM on March 13, 2003

Actually, traditional Chinese gourmet is incredibly high in fat, outside of rice (I recall eating fried pork ribs with a honey-cheese sauce in a little place in Guangzhou that was quite possibly the best food I've ever tasted, though my arteries went clang just at the sight of it). It's just that peasants don't eat most of it that often because it was expensive, and they had big families to feed. With the "little emperors", who are the children of the urbanised middle-class, those problems went away. The reason those rural peasants are so thin despite eating what basically amounts to lard and carbohydrates is that they perform heavy labour ten to fourteen hours a day.
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 2:56 PM on March 13, 2003

I have a problem with the assertion that the Asian ideal of beauty has changed. Maybe I'm the one with the stereotypes, but aren't Asian women normally slim? Was that just because they were hungry? I don't remember seeing a lot of Asian women with the bompa-bomp-bomp.
posted by monkeyman at 3:16 PM on March 13, 2003

Wealthy Asians, like wealthy people everywhere prior to the modern slim=beautiful obsession, have traditionally carried as much poundage as possible; that's how you show you can afford to eat your fill. There simply haven't been many wealthy Asians until recently.
posted by languagehat at 4:58 PM on March 13, 2003

" China will be populated by adults who were pampered and catered to as children - how will they relate to each other?"

My interest lies more towards how will they relate to us. They're the next superpower. I hope they don't go all imperialistic on us.
posted by five fresh fish at 4:59 PM on March 13, 2003

What languagehat said--We're talking about people who say
Have you eaten? for where we say Good morning.
posted by y2karl at 7:38 PM on March 13, 2003

Well it wouldn't be metafilter without four or five anti American post a day, and sometimes you just have to stretch the truth in order to maintain the average. It's hard work, but the war against America requires sacrifice.
posted by Beholder at 1:43 PM PST on March 13

Thinking of getting a life, are we?
posted by y2karl at 7:50 PM on March 13, 2003

There simply haven't been many wealthy Asians until recently.

Thank you, sir! I was wondering when somebody was going to say that. China, especially.

Actually, traditional Chinese gourmet is incredibly high in fat,

That too! Fried food anyone?
posted by hama7 at 9:08 PM on March 13, 2003

For what it's worth, when I first came to Korea 7 years ago, I don't remember seeing anywhere near as many pudgy little kids waddling around as I do these days. Based purely on my own observations, I'd say there are a lot more fat Koreans, particularly amongst children, than there were even so short a time ago as 1996.

Whether the simultaneous rise of KFC and Pizza Hut and so on is coincident or causal is left to the reader to decide.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:16 PM on March 13, 2003