Fatting In: Asian Immigrants Gaining Weight To Fit In

By Tim | Wednesday, May 4, 2011 | 8 Comments

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A new study is showing that immigrants are choosing American foods and American portion sizes, part of something they call “fatting in,” where immigrant groups eat high-calorie American meals to fit in with American culture.

From the press release:

Immigrants to the United States and their U.S.-born children gain more than a new life and new citizenship. They gain weight. The wide availability of cheap, convenient, fatty American foods and large meal portions have been blamed for immigrants packing on pounds, approaching U.S. levels of obesity within 15 years of their move.

Psychologists show that it’s not simply the abundance of high-calorie American junk food that causes weight gain. Instead, members of U.S. immigrant groups choose typical American dishes as a way to show that they belong and to prove their American-ness.

More after the jump…

The results of this study are published in the June issue of Psychological Science. Studies like this one have shown that diets of immigrants, including those from Asia, Africa and Central and South America, worsen the longer they stay in the United States. This study was rather interesting as it focused on Asian Americans, and tested their reaction to hearing things like “You have to be an American to participate in this study” before being asked to select a food choice from an Asian or American restaurant. The belief that they wouldn’t be “American” enough led many in the study to choose fattier American diet based foods compared with those who weren’t given the same message before being asked to choose.

The researchers surveyed Asian-American and white college students to learn about embarrassing childhood food memories. Sixty-eight percent of the Asian-American respondents recalled food-related insecurities around white peers while growing up, like awkwardness about using chopsticks and the custom of eating all parts of the animal – chicken feet, fish eyes and pork head. Only 27 percent of white respondents remembered embarrassing food practices from childhood.

As an immigrant child myself, I can easily relate having grown up in an all white New York suburb. Because my family didn’t have much money, my mom made her own rou-song from fish we caught ourselves. The other kids at school teased my sisters and myself, because we brought sandwiches made from peanut butter and rou-song, and the kids said we were eating ants, since rou-song from fish was dark and did have the appearance of small bugs. I remember wishing I could have brought anything normal to school for lunch. When I reflect on my childhood today, it’s funny because our lunch room never actually served normal “American” food. Instead it was just as likely the cafeteria served peanut butter and jelly on matzah bread, as they were to serve spaghetti and meatballs.

As my parents inched slowly towards the middle class, we no longer depended as often on bringing our own lunch to school, so that by the time I was in high school, I had the chance to go out with classmates during lunch period, to where else, but the iconic American institution of McDonald’s. We hung out there almost every day during our lunch period, eating lunches of burgers and fries, definitely enjoying the American diet. But lucky for me I had a high metabolism in high school and the effects of fast food didn’t show. If anything I was under weight.

Now that I’m well past 40, the effects of the American diet are very obvious; with high salt and cholesterol, I find myself with high-blood pressure and high cholesterol. My blood sugar is also beginning to inch its way up there, but not yet high enough to be of concern. My doctor has me on medication for the blood pressure and the cholesterol, and I’ve been trying to modify my diet to be less “American,” which is not an easy task when you have a five year old who will only eat hot dogs, pizza, and mac and cheese.

The good thing is my daughter has no qualms about eating mooncakes, rou-song, rice crackers, sesame balls, and other Chinese delights. But I fear as she gets older, peer pressure may make her shun some of her favorite Chinese foods. One of the benefits of living in the Bay Area, is that hopefully for her, some of these same foods will be considered normal by her peers.

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IsaacKojima

I didn’t had this kind of problem because I live in a town with a big Japanese Brazilian community. Plus, the Japanese cuisine doesn’t have so many dishes with “not normal” animal parts, like feets or heads. But more importantly, my parents always tought me importance of food and not refuse any kind ingredient or dish. Dad was born in Japan in the time of WWII. His childhood was during the American occupation and because of that, he had hard times. Mom always told us the stories about their parents and never allowed me to left a single grain of rice in a bowl. Nowadays, I am glad that I had this kind of education and learnt to value every gram of food in my plate. And since I almost had Japanese food in my plate (or bowl), even if people think it’s weird (and I still eat bento wherever I go: zoo, parks, etc), I don’t give a damn.
KnownHiro

Asian Americans (AA) are sure teased for the food we eat. Even in as early middle school, I know kids being teased for their ethnic dishes.

I think the title is a little misleading. AA’s do not intentionally “fat up” to get to American standards. They, simply just eat more American foods which happen to have more calories than what they are used to. I think that is completely normal (not the excessive calories part).
http://hubpages.com/profile/Pamela+N+Red PamelaNRed

With the increase of Asian people in America hopefully the cuisine will be more familiar. We eat quite a few Asian dishes at my home and we aren’t Asian. My daughter’s favorite restaurant is a Chinese one. The menu is Americanized but still more healthy than fast food.
timat8asians

@KnownHiro The title is actually from the linked press release which used that as the title to introduce their study. “Fatting In” is a play on words for “Fitting In”.
EmilyElaineDzenowski

Lol, I bring kimchi and rice in a tupperware box for my lunch all the time at college. I like my kimchi reeaally ferminted ;9. I kind of like it when it has that slight fizz after you bite into it. Nobody really bothers me about it, but then again there arn’t very many people around when I get a chance to have lunch. Maybe I will wip it out when its really crowded in mall area one day, lol.
kevjones1977

Maybe part of this so-called “fatting up” is just part of assimilation. How many Americans of Irish, Greek, or Swedish descent still eat traditional peasant foods from the Old Country every day? Kids raised in America want to eat what other kids are eating, but their children often want to explore their heritage. The future will tell.
peptea

i never gave into “fatting in”, and i never will. besides, these days a lot of non-asian americans eat asian food more than ever before, and it’s not seen as weird as it used to be. especially now, with more people trying to lose weight and turning to “slimming” asian cuisine.
JH86

Eh? Then why not do something about it? YOU NEED TO BE MORE ACTIVE! Try to make 30-60 mintues out of your day workout, excercise, strength train, cardio, run, aerobis go it will do wonders for your health over time and help you loss all the fat.

Its not only you’re diet that is makes you gain weight you need to try to be more active! I think we live in a society now that is very sedentary and over time it will decrease your life span. Hope you loss all the weight and live a healthier life Tim!