"A third of women in urban Kampala and a quarter of the women in more rural central and southwestern Uganda are overweight or obese, according to 2007 government statistics. It is a major paradox since 50 percent of children in southwestern Uganda are malnourished," Derrick Z. Jackson writes in a Boston Globe op-ed.

This does not come as a surprise to me. Go to the prominent markets in cities, or take a drive through the richer neighborhoods in Nigeria, Cameroon, or even Liberia for that matter, and obesity is visible -- if not as prevelant as in the United States, for example. There are no real reliable statistics on obesity in Africa yet (check out how nearly the whole continent lacks data here) but there is a general consensus that the epidemic is growing -- at least among the wealthier. 

In my experience, "fatness" is not bemoaned much in the African countries I've visited... In fact, it's applauded. I'll never forget a church service I observed in which a preacher asked attendees to greet their neighbor joyously: "Today is your day of fatness!"

Fatness, in this context, means more than just physique. It's associated with wealth of all sorts. In a continent struck by poverty, being big in all things -- wallet, house, and belt size -- is a sign of success. I was often told to gain weight, and complimented on days when I apparently looked "bigger." It's an understandable mentality when poverty is all around; when one escapes such a fate, seeking all things non-poor is a prized goal. What is harder to justify is the way that the "big man" concept fits into corruption as well. Opportunities to get rich are often taken; and big men become exactly that in all senses of the word. 

Obviously, this is a small subset, and certainly there are other reasons for obesity on the rise. (It doesn't help that African food is often rich -- for example in Sierra Leone: rice, palm oil, cassava, palm oil, meat, and more palm-oil fried plantains -- so workers moving from the fields to desk jobs are likely to take in more calories than a sedentary lifestyle allows). 

But if I'm right, or if being big remains a big goal, then Africa's slow rise out of poverty could bring with it a rise of obesity. But perhaps being big won't be so special anymore -- and another fashion will fill its place. 

AFP/Getty Images 

It has nothing to do with terrorism, nukes or Ahmadinejad. It's wheat fungus.

The L.A. Times reports:

Crop scientists fear the Ug99 fungus could wipe out more than 80% of worldwide wheat crops as it spreads from eastern Africa. It has already jumped the Red Sea and traveled as far as Iran. Experts say it is poised to enter the breadbasket of northern India and Pakistan, and the wind will inevitably carry it to Russia, China and even North America -- if it doesn't hitch a ride with people first.

"It's a time bomb," said Jim Peterson, a professor of wheat breeding and genetics at Oregon State University in Corvallis. "It moves in the air, it can move in clothing on an airplane. We know it's going to be here. It's a matter of how long it's going to take."

Though most Americans have never heard of it, Ug99 -- a type of fungus called stem rust because it produces reddish-brown flakes on plant stalks -- is the No. 1 threat to the world's most widely grown crop.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico estimates that 19% of the world's wheat, which provides food for 1 billion people in Asia and Africa, is in imminent danger. American plant breeders say $10 billion worth of wheat would be destroyed if the fungus suddenly made its way to U.S. fields.

It's a very obvious overstatement to say that South Africa is becoming more like its delinquent neighbor, Zimbabwe. Nonetheless, an incident reported in South Africa's Business Today gave reason for the comparison: Last weekend, a mob overran a fruit and sugar cane farm, allegedly in frustration for the slow pace of long-promised land reform. It sparked memories of the public outcry in Zimbabwe that spawned a policy of "fast track" reallocation of land from white to black hands.

As South Africa approaches its fourth elections since the end of apartheid this weekend, this is a dismaying analogy. Both countries began independence with striking imbalances -- with some 80 to 90 percent of land in white hands. In South Africa, that persists today, and calls for a more rapid solution to reallocation are growing. Elections are likely to be won by the African National Congress Party's Jacob Zuma, known for a more populist stance on precisely these types of issues. The pressure on Zuma to move forward quickly could be quite intense.

So far, South Africa's approach has been more moderate than Zimbabwe's raid-and-reallocate approach: Pretoria has tried to encourage land owners to sell and private investment to revamp the productivity of failed plots. The government assures that Zimbabwe will not be the model to follow. But success is percieved to be mixed at best, and there is much transferring to be done before the promised 30 percent of land returns to majority black hands by 2014. And land is just one of the manifestations of the inequality that continues to plague South Africa. Patience is wearing thin. 

Where South Africa goes after its Sunday vote is yet unclear. Former parliamentarian Raenette Taljaard has a few predictions in FP's Think Again: South Africa. But one can only hope that the answer to the title of this post is, "no."

AFP PHOTO/GIANLUIGI GUERCIA

Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper based in Japan, reports that Supreme Leader and noted epicure Kim Jong Il has opened the first pizzeria in his famine-wracked country.  

Kim's interest in gourmet food and drink is long-standing -- he's Hennessy cognac's biggest individual customer, for instance. The restaurant is the culmination of his decade-long investment in producing the perfect pies. In the 1990s, he hired an Italian pizza-maker to teach his staff the vital art of olive placement. And, after "trial and error" failed to bring the pizza up to snuff, he sent them to Italy last year.

Apparently the trip was a success: the restaurant now serves pasta and pizza made with ingredients flown in from Europe to North Korea's elite. Though Kim allegedly "does not eat much, but enjoys picking at various kinds of food, as if just to taste" -- an irony that's got to be hard to stomach.  

Photo: KNS/AFP/Getty Images

Via Matthew Yglesias, it seems that there's at least one U.S. politician brave enough to fight for Americans' God-given right to enjoy fancy French cheese. Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar has written a letter to the president protesting the United States's relatiatory tariffs on Roquefort cheese:

“Freedom fries and “freedom toast” did serious damage to U.S.-French relaions. We both want to reestablish America’s moral authority in the world under your presidency; a very noble gesture toward that goal would be to remove or reduce this mean-spirited and unproductive punitive duty on Roquefort cheese.

Though I am a supporter of “buy American”, it is for unfairly subsidized foreign products when they are identical or comparable to ours. Roquefort cheese is not in this category. I know from my own experience that if such retaliatory action were taken on products produced in small communities in my district, as Roquefort cheese is in a small French town, it would have a serious adverse local economic impact.

Even here at Passport, we realize that the Roquefort controvery is not one of the more pressing issues Obama faces. But all the same, it's impressive when a congressman from an agricultural state is willing to come out against counterproductive protectionism, and for something French. Though a quick Getty Images search reveals that Oberstar is a longtime French sympathizer.

However, an incident occured last week at a crossing into the Gaza Strip that gave a very different impression to a senior observer. When Senator John Kerry visited the Strip, he learned that many trucks loaded with pasta were not permitted in. When the chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee inquired as to the reason for the delay, he was told by United Nations aid officials that "Israel does not define pasta as part of humanitarian aid - only rice shipments."

Kerry asked Barak about the logic behind this restriction, and only after the senior U.S. official's intervention did the defense minister allow the pasta into the Strip. The U.S. senator updated colleagues at the Senate and other senior officials in Washington of the details of his visit. 

Kerry wasn't the only U.S. official to complain about the pasta ban. Representatives Brian Baird and Keith Ellison also toured Gaza last week and criticized Israel's "idiosyncratic and arbitrary" food aid policies. "When have lentil bombs been going off lately? Is someone going to kill you with a piece of macaroni?" asked Baird. 

The IDF agreed to allow lentils and pasta into Gaza last weekend. Laird applauded the move but said it was only symbolic of a generally misguided sanctions system.

"You look stupid and petty and over-controlling when you do this."

(Hat tip: Passport reader Sierra Millman. Check out her reporting on the Middle East here.)

Correction: This post originally misspelled Rep. Baird's last name. 

Tim Boyle/Getty Images

First George W. Bush tripled the duty on Roquefort cheese as a farewell gesture to France. Now the U.S. Department of Agriculture has doubled it for jamon iberico, a prized ham which comes with the leg bone still inside. What's more, the hams will have to be sold without a black hoof attached, their defining characteristic.

I won't pretend to understand why it's so important that the hoof be included, but apparently it's VERY important:

There was a scandal in Madrid 9 or 10 years ago when a company was caught painting the hooves on its white Serrano hams black in order to pass them off as the far more valuable Iberico Pata Negra. Apparently, some of the paint finally rubbed off on an unsuspecting shopper and there was public outrage.

The newspapers followed the story, chronicling the plight of the duped ham lovers and the evil doers who had sold them a faux Ibérico ham with a painted hoof. The government finally intervened, and the populace was calmed. Even today, you can spot the occasional ham shopper in Spain rubbing the hoof to make sure that its color is natural.

U.S. afficionados apparently paid up to $200 per ham and waited up to seven years for them to become available. Could this all be a massive government experiment to see how much Americans will pay for snooty European food products?

Financial tips aren't usually our thing here at Passport. But in today's wintry economic climate, stockpiling blood sausage, escargot, and Nutella is starting to seem like a sound strategy.

Photo: PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images

Attention D.C. residents: You know that bamboo plant livening up your office? It's needed for panda food.

The National Zoo has run critically low on bamboo and might run out before the winter ends. The zoo harvests bamboo on its premises and at other locations in the area, but for unknown reasons, the stands aren't regrowing normally.

On Jan. 14, the zoo issued a public appeal for bamboo donations for Tian Tian, Mei Xiang, Tai Shan, who munch through 1,400 pounds (635 kg) of the crunchy stalks weekly.

The three furry balls of cuteness are on loan from China. Let's hope this bamboo shortage doesn't adversely affect U.S.-China relations. Fortunately, there are some promising signs: The zoo has received many offers since issuing its appeal. However, for the bamboo to be accepted, it must meet specific criteria:

• Cover at least an acre
• Be within 25 to 30 miles from the zoo
• Grow at least 100 feet from roads
• Be free of herbicides and pesticides

By the way, check out the panda cam.

KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images