By Ian Birrell
The arrival of fast food has triggered the latest health epidemic to hit developing countries. As doctors begin the fightback against morbid obesity, Bénédicte Desrus travels round Africa photographing people living with the condition, while Ian Birrell reveals why South Africa now faces its biggest challenge since HIV.
When the first McDonald’s restaurant opened almost two decades ago in Johannesburg, a teenage boy named Thando Tshabalala was among the thousands who stood in line patiently waiting to try one of those famous burgers. “We had seen this place in every movie we ever watched, and it seemed to be mentioned in every song, so I had to try it for myself,” he said.
Given such enthusiasm, it was hardly surprising that South Africa proved to be fertile territory for the burger chain, breaking expansion records with 30 outlets opening in under two years. Today the company operates more than 200 restaurants across the country. When arch-rival Burger King finally entered the market last year it was greeted with similar excitable scenes – almost 5,000 people descended on its launch branch in Cape Town, some even sleeping on the street to ensure they got their hands on a Whopper. “We did not expect the demand to be so great,” its chairman confessed later.
Tshabalala, now a successful 33-year-old corporate trainer, still enjoys fast food. When we met he was eating a steak sandwich in the food court of a smart shopping mall, sitting among scores of shoppers and families feasting on curries, pizzas, fried fish and the ubiquitous chips. But that skinny teenager has grown into a 5’5” man weighing almost 17 stone – and today he struggles to find clothes to fit his inflated body and complains that seats are becoming too small for comfort.
“To be honest I feel rather self-conscious about my size,” Tshabalala told me with a rueful smile. “There is this saying in South Africa that if you have a one-pack belly, like a beer belly, you must have lots of money, but if you have a six-pack there is something wrong. But I know it is not really a sign of success to have a big belly.”
Sitting with him was his girlfriend Fiona Sefara, an entrepreneur building a recycling business. A former vegetarian, she recalled leaving South Africa before the end of apartheid to live in America. “When I went there I was surprised to see all these overweight people on the streets – but when I came back home, McDonald’s was everywhere and there were all these bigger people on our own streets.”
As we chatted, she chided her partner for his fondness for fried food and huge portions, then confided that the worst aspect of the change in her homeland was seeing so many overweight children. “We had nothing as children so we’d take a tennis ball outside and play for hours until it was dark. But now they have computers and are driven everywhere,” she said. “My own nephew is so chubby that he has become one of those American kids.”
Read more- Obesity: Africa’s new crisis
Source:theguardian.com
