African Food and Art

This blog explores the wisdom of African proverbs, the depth of folklore, the beauty of art, the stories of history, and the flavors of timeless African food recipes.

Fat wife happy life

Happy fat wife in Mauritania Africa where fat women are preferred.
Fat wives with stretch marks, rolls of fat and broad backsides are considered extremely beautiful in areas of Africa desert country of Mauritania. In Mauritania, Africa, fat wife makes for a happy life.

Tangier Women In Deep Discussion

Fat Wife Makes A Happy Marriage Life in Africa Desert Country of Mauritania

In Mauritania, overeating is not a sign of addiction, but rather of a tradition. Beauty as always is in the eye of the beholder.

In the eleventh largest country in Africa, Mauritania, among the white Moor Arab population, fat women are traditionally seen as more desirable and obesity is viewed as a sign of wealth and prestige. The fatter the wife the happier the husband and the marriage bed. Why? If a girl was thin, she was considered poor or sickly, and would not be respected enough for marriage. 

To attain Mauritanian traditional standards of beauty, many women undergo the practice of gavage, or "fattening up." Gavage is French meaning forced feeding. Drinking high-fat camel's milk mixed with a plant called Aish, the mixture is churned until thick as cream.

Drinking the Aish mixture, 12-14 gallons per day is the traditional way to gain weight, the other more modern way is using weight gain drugs. Invereating is not a sign of addiction, but rather of a tradition.

Mauritanian traditional standards of beauty
Not a single fast-food franchise exists in Mauritania however; around 20 percent of the women are obese, according to the World Health Organization.  Although the practice is becoming outdated, force-feeding remains a serious threat to girls and women's health in rural areas of Mauritania.

However, the view that a fat girl is more desirable for marriage is seen as old-fashioned in certain regions of the country. What is shaping the perception of beauty? Social media is changing Mauritania traditional standards of beauty in the younger generation.

A study by the Mauritanian ministry of health in 2007 found that force-feeding is dying out. Now only 10 percent of young girls under the age of 19 are force-fed, 32 percent of women and 29 percent of men in Mauritania approved of the traditional practice of gavage.
Did you know?
Ethnic groups in African Desert Country of Mauritania are Black Moors 40 percent, White Moors 30 percent, and Mauritanians non-Arabic speaking, Halpulaar, Soninke, Wolof, and Bamara ethnic groups 30 percent.
Making lunch in the desert of Mauritania Africa

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