"Everyone in the place, except the waiter, was fat, some of them so fat that I kept having to look at them. I had never seen people that fat before. The strange thing was that none of them looked as if they were trying to hide their enormous girth; quite the opposite, several people were wearing tight T-shirts with their big bellies sticking out proudly."
Newfoundland rarely makes The New York Times. A Swedish travel writer making an observation about Newfoundlanders being enormously large was especially sad.
Karl Ove Knausgaard was in St. Anthony, Newfoundland at the northern end where he could see Labrador. St. Anthony is hundreds of kilometres away from St. John's. Also, Knausgaard was there in the middle of winter, so people are likely to be at their largest.
The writer doesn't come across well in the poorly written story, so that may be some consolation. Knausgaard also doesn't seem to want to get to know the people of Newfoundland, certainly not by reading the story. He spends more time pondering why he is clueless enough to bring a expired drivers license on an assignment where he has to drive than spend time on covering Newfoundland.
Eating seal meat does not get Don Cherry's seal of approval
CanadianCrossing.com Newfoundland and Labrador coverage
Canada has an obesity problem, especially true the further north you travel in the country.
I look forward to making my own observations later this year when I hope to travel to Newfoundland.
For more on the breakdown of Knausgaard's story and obesity, check out this column from our sister blog, BalanceofFood.com.
Andrew Zimmern visited Newfoundland for Bizarre Foods this year. He is always more respectful of inhabitants of any region he tours. He didn't mind people poking fun at him, especially his mispronunciation of the province.
Posted by: Tim | March 07, 2015 at 07:22 AM
I've seen Andrew Zimmern take on Montreal and Toronto, but not Newfoundland. Will have to look for that. Thanks for the heads-up.
Posted by: Chad | March 08, 2015 at 12:11 AM