"Fat-Ass" Food

On our recent trip to another region, for breakfast I took out my handy-dandy maple and brown syrup instant oatmeal. After 4 1/2 years, eating French bread for breakfast has become tireseome, so I just BYOB when I travel.

The staff of course were instantly more chatty as soon as they realized I spoke Wolof and one of them said, "So you like 'Fat-Ass food"? as if that was normal breakfast conversation.

"Excuse me?" I said. They explained the term as being porridge-type food that women eat and their butt gets really big and you have to buy new clothes. The woman who worked there leaned over my chair, peered into my bowl and said confidentially, "So, you're looking to grow your butt, aren't you? This is big butt food." Hmm. I hadn't thought of it that way.

I said, "No, I'm not growing my butt any more..." but they were not convinced. She said, "you eat that and you'll see." I said, well this is American non fat-ass food. She said, "Ah, so American porridge doesn't grow your butt?"... I said, "Well, not generally." I said, "There are even some people who eat this food to lose weight." She was shocked. "She said, "So you're trying to lose more of your butt?" I said, "No, not really. I just like the way it tastes" I said, "Besides porridge in and of itself does not grow your butt. It's when you add a lot of butter and sugar to your bowl that you can run into problems (or into a big butt)". I don't think I won her over with that argument but I do think she realized that big butt strategies vary from country to country.