The word ‘fat' carries burdens of social, cultural and visual expectation, but also a historical one. Size is usually described in terms of bigger equating to better: from America, where the ‘Great Nation' conveys both vast and peerless, to the Indian subcontinent, where ‘big people' and ‘little people' refer not necessarily to physical attributes but to wealth and social class. Our history with this nutrient, which, along with proteins and carbohydrates, represents one of the three basic elements of our diet, has evolved alongside agriculture, religion, culture, medicine and now the modern media, as Christopher E. Forth tells us in his new book.
Forth examines depictions of the corpulent body, from the Upper Palaeolithic period figurine of the Venus of Willendorf dating from around 30,000 years ago, to the 20th century and the changes in attitude towards the obese body in various societies around the world. For very early peoples, using every part of the animal was essential, including breaking down carcasses to extract fatty, nutritious bone marrow and rendering as much fat as possible from kills. This tallow provided domestic light and was used in everything from making clothes to medicine. Among remaining First Nation peoples, traditions imbued the fat surrounding the internal organs, particularly the kidneys, with mystical properties. For societies living in harsh Ice Age conditions, fat was linked with, not necessarily fertility, but successful survival, and thus to be admired or even worshipped.
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