Dare to Ask: In Samoa, being big has always been a big deal

By Phillip Milano

The Florida Times-Union

Question

How did Samoans get so big? I am built like a blacksmith, yet the average Samoan guy makes me look like a runt. -- Dan, 21, Latino, Los Angeles

Replies

I taught a year on Tutuila, five miles from Pago Pago. I took my middle school class to a mall to get matching lava lavas (wraparounds). I asked the clerk how much material we needed. She said I (the small palagi -- white guy) needed a couple feet. She then declared the "fat boys back there need much more." I knew one student was especially sensitive, so I turned to console him, but no, he and the other boy are beaming. In Samoa, "Fat is where it's at!" -- Steve, West Virginia

It's genetics, and the types of food they eat. If you want to become big and tough like us Samoans, live in Samoa and do what they do. -- Fa'asolo, St. George, Utah

I reckon black men in general are slightly bulkier and more defined than whites. -- Robert, United Kingdom

You are gay. -- Jack, 69, native Hawaiian, Missouri

Samoans are very built and well-proportioned. Once seafaring navigators who could read the stars and find their destination, Samoans only lived on food from the land, air and sea; they had great, massive bodies built for such voyages. Now they're plagued with the fatness of KFC and McDonald's fried foods galore. -- Faamausili, Samoan, Auckland, New Zealand

Expert says

In a decade, Jack's keen insights will likely be standard fare for you to wade through, as those pesky, untrained bloggers overtake us high-falutin' journalists. We just wanted to give you a taste of what's coming, OK? Now back to the nostalgia of some good ol' professional vetting and reporting:

Polynesians in general have always held power in high esteem. For thousands of years, status has been connected to the large size and boldness of things like the human body, said Emory University anthropologist Bradd Shore, who has traveled to and studied Samoa for four decades.

"Quantity was associated with blessings of the gods," he said. "The chiefs were understood to control that, and they symbolized this power in large size. A lot of selective breeding was done for large size."

And, in their hard-working culture, older Samoans were revered and removed from physical labor in the caste system, which helped them get fat, Shore added.

"To be a high-ranking person, you just sat, you didn't move a whole lot."

Now, though, Shore says he's seeing more and more obesity among younger Samoans, which has more to do with the Westernization of their diet.

"There's more imported food. McDonald's is one of the most successful franchises in Samoa," he said. "They are starting to better understand the health risks, though. In the past, to be called large or fat was a compliment. Now that's being challenged."

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Phillip Milano, author of I Can't Believe You Asked That! (Perigee), moderates cross-cultural dialogue at Y? The National Forum on People's Differences. Visit www.yforum.com to submit questions and answers. Send general column comments to phillip.milano@jacksonville.com. You can also hear his podcasts or watch his TV spots.