Early one Friday evening at a McDonald’s restaurant in Johannesburg, a large group of young executives enjoyed their post-work, pre-night-out dinner.
Wearing glamorous designer suits in the shadow of the city’s stock exchange, some diners delicately dunked their chicken nuggets while discussing local politics and the previous week’s stock market fluctuations.
“We’d rather come here than a fancy steak house,” one diner said. “We like the vibe and the food.”
Some fast-food chains in parts of Africa enjoy a more aspirational image than they do in the West. A fuller frame and fatty foods are, in some cultures, firmly associated with wealth.
Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com
In Kenya's capital, “The Colonel” is king. When a branch of KFC opened in Nairobi last year, customers had to queue for up to 90 minutes to get their hands on a sought-after bucket of fried chicken.
That might help -- in a very small part -- to explain why Africa’s waistline is growing so rapidly. Obesity, a problem more associated with the developed world, is a growing issue on this continent. The trend is threatening the lives of the very young.
New research, published online in “The Lancet” on this week, suggests that babies born to overweight mothers in sub-Saharan Africa are significantly more likely to die in the first two days after their birth. The report, thought to be the first study of its kind about the developing world, suggests that growing obesity will put future pressure on the continent’s already-high death rates among newborns.
According to estimates, a quarter of adults in sub-Saharan Africa will be overweight by 2030 -- a striking projection for a continent where we are more used to seeing images of skeletal children struck by famine.
Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter
The most significant causes might be the side-effects of urbanization. Millions of people who once grew their own food are being drawn toward Africa's super-cities, where they are more likely to rely on street hawkers and urban supermarkets. Around one-third of Africa's 1 billion people live in an urban area, but in 20 years around half of Africans will.
The problem certainly isn’t fast food alone, but fast-growing cities, built upon fast-growing economies that are reshaping many African societies as well as reshaping many of their people.
More world stories from NBC News:
- Day at Olympics well worth $1,000 for family of four, NJ fans say
- Afghan suicide bomber kills senior Army leader, 2 majors
- Notorious Colombian druglord arrested, headed to US for trial
- Who'll win the gold medal for partying? Olympians let hair down
- 'Situation is desperate' for ill Syrian refugees in Turkey
- One year after London riots, a family still grapples with fallout
Every article on MSNBC has an agenda now. For me, the end was the doctoring of the Zimmerman 911 audio.
Hi. I work at NBC. I am a liberal and I'm sooooo angry when people like American things....
AAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!
Confounded McDonald's!!
Not EVEN funny dlogan-stuntedman
Taking...the word is "taking".
He was a proof reader for NBC or MSNBC,whatever they call themselves now.
So can we stop all the freaking commercials about starving kids in Africa now? Let all the rich bastards over there take care of them.
How about we concentrate on getting the rich bastards over here to pay their fair share of taxes?
Yes, because paying ALL the taxes already isn't fair enough. It needs to be fairer by making them pay more.
Ah CT, I'm not rich, and I certainly pay a higher effective rate than 15%. Never mind that people in Africa aren't subject to U.S. taxes. Get real people!
That's because most of Africa is a libertarian utopia - 0% taxes. For some odd reason, the free market doesn't seem to be taking care of the lawlessness, famine and disease. There must be something wrong with the Africans. After all, Ayn Rand could not ever have been wrong. About anything.
I know! Let's send Romney over to explain how they are an inferior culture and how he can give them pointers on how to do it right.
Is this April Fools? I guarantee obesity is not a problem in Africa. 99% sure it's the opposite. The stuff they report on when people aren't killing each other is hilarious.
Starving Africans are an unfortunate resource in an area of the world with few options. Their governments and so-called supporting organizations do not want the problem corrected as that would eliminate funding.
Obesity in Africa translates to corporate profits here, and stimulates the need for charitable organizations to manage, but not destroy this growing menace.
This is a powerful method of control. The obese are far less likely to revolt and overturn their food cart, successful revolutions are waged by those with little to lose, by the hungry.
In the United States, where these high-calorie foods and the methods of distribution were developed, the program is already in it's advanced stages. Along with dependence upon electronic communication, entertainment and the widespread abuse of prescription drugs, obesity will effectively discourage American citizenry from protesting abuses and demanding risky change. A fat nail in the coffin of freedom.
Like it or not, it's none of our business and again, few here can stay on point. It's OK for the U.S. to be besotted with fast food and fairground junk, it's OK if it's in Europe and Asia, but suddenly the American righteous get all up in arms if it exists in Africa because it interferes with their image of starving Ethiopians or something. This is exactly what's wrong with logical thinking in this country and why intelligent, domestic decisions can't be made. If fast food succeeds in Africa, it is what it is. Past that, it's none of our business.
Verily I say unto you: Malthus is coming. He has been waiting for democracy to take over the entire planet before reminding us we are almost all fur-less apes wearing clothes. Look around an American WalMart. Some of us waddlers still have tree-limb fragments under our fingernails. Look at Olympics winners. Pounding chests, shaking fists in the air, some screeching like chimpanzees....
There is some happiness to be found. From me, the latest Mars landing got a big smile.
tell you what. I lived in africa for a considerable time. Mc was not around thou KFC was and still is very popular. Best part of the food there was the freshness and most of it being organic. You good buy fruit and vegetables on side of the road that were picked up at their peak, not packed and stored for weeks( like avocados, oranges, bananas, tomatoes,lettuce and list goes on). Meat you buy from butcher, fresh free ranging grass fed that is. Tastes like meat not cardboard. Never use to see obese people. Now the junk food is taking hold and results can be seen. Just my couple of notes.
America's best exports: wars and obesity. Sounds about right.
I hate to inject a note of seriousness, but fast food was already in Africa before McDonalds and KFC. Kenyan flame broiled chicken is particularly good. Served with fries and a salad, it gives American fast meals a run for their money. Most Kenyans like the chicken without sauces or seasoning, with just the flame broiled taste. I've been won over to the cause, and I now see dipping sauces as unnecessary.
Foreign chains like KFC stayed out of Kenya for so long because of the corruption, which is worse than in South Africa. But it allowed the country to develop some domestic fast food chains, which gives everyone a little more choice.
For people in sub-Sahara Africa who have had about 300 calories per day to eat since the American Revolution, having a MacDonalds is probably driving their tastebuds into overload. They have been told by 'westerners' they can't eat crocodiles, hippopotami, lions, cheetah's, elephants, wildebeest, or hyeneas, so that left them essentially eating twigs and bark, drinking muddy water for 250 years. Tasty food in large supply and sugared drinks have probably driven them into a feeding frenzy. Now, let's decide what is obesity and what is not. Maybe obesity is the 'real' normal anyway.
Along with the obesity will come health problems the industrialized world has seen with the advent of processed foods. This should keep the doctors in that part of the world busy in the near future.
Mc'd gives me the sh*ts.
Thanks for sharing.
In fact the truth is the junk food has not taken on as much as they make it sound. People south of sahara still like their meat, even the urbanites. U never see hamburgers or hot dogs on the bbq that would be an insult to the quests. Have some Chuck or some local chicken or lamb chops and of course some good organic pork and u in good books with quests. and all that washed down with some could lager. Did you know that africa is the biggest market for Guinness
You people do realize that Africa is a big continent with lots of different countries, climates, and biomes--right? There's desert, rainforest, mountains, grasslands, and a temperate Mediterranean zone--among others. There are even major, metropolitan cities in Africa. Not all Africans are the starving ones you see in the news.
Dear lord, this country is becoming an intellectual wasteland.
not becoming, it all ready is
Idi Amin Dada people are fattening them all up like cattle.
At least America is still exporting something. Obesity and sub-standard food.
I've always wondered why poor African's are so thin and why so many poor African-American's are obese. I don't intend to offend anyone, as this is merely just an observation.
"They" have been working at killing off the Africans for decades in hopes of plundering their lands for its riches ... they have tried war, disease and who knows what else and all "they" needed to do was set up a few hundred fast food joints ... unbelievable!
A new market for statins?
This article, like most fat-hating propaganda, makes it sound like the old way is preferable - those skeletal children and malnutrition - and really? The fat babies are more like to to die within two days after birth than the underfed ones? I'd like to see that study.
well, we're at it again, instead of helping the developing world, we're going to kill them off by feeding them to death with the very same stuff we're feeding ourselves with! I wonder, where do all the "fat cats" of these restaurant chains really eat???? Do they eat the same unhealthy crap they are forcing down our throats?
When are they opening a Chick Fil A ?
LOL, headlines: "Wold hungar cured with KFC, Wendy's, BK, and McD's. No longer will people starve in Somalia and Sudan. Exercise equipment is demanded by the UN for these poor nations."
KFC is the number one fast food restaurant in Africa....huh go figure
Fried chicken? Huh,whod'a thunk it