Bigger, bigger, stronger: the United States is the land of excess. Food, buildings, shopping malls, amusement parks, infrastructure – it’s all there in XXL form! We take a trip to the heart of America in king-size format!
The first striking example is the size of its gigantic superstores, like the Mall of America in Minnesota, the largest shopping mall in the United States. Or Costco, the American supermarket giant where everything is bought in bulk: 30-litre drums, cans of soda sold in packs of 30s. Restaurants offering totally insane portions are regularly sold out: the world’s biggest burger, weighing 61 kgs, was made in Michigan. When it comes to means of transport, Americans cultivate a taste for XXL machines: cars and pick-ups of ever-increasing size, and mega-trucks capable of carrying dozens of tons, or even houses!
But in the land of excess, obesity has become a public health problem. 40% of the population is overweight, and one in eight people morbidly obese. In supermarkets, overweight people no longer use shopping carts, but rather electric wheelchairs to do their food shopping.
Today, obese people are excluded from many professions because of their weight. A third of all army applicants are rejected as too fat and the US Army can no longer meet its annual hiring quotas. More and more overweight people are proclaiming their right to be far. Some film themselves eating astronomical quantities of food, risking their health and sometimes even their lives. A dive into the heart of XXL America.