And what are we to make of the so-called global obesity epidemic? It is clear, from an empirical standpoint, that people, on the whole, are getting larger in developed (and increasingly in developing) countries. Yet does this translate into an obesity epidemic? While often used by individuals with good intensions, the term itself should not be immune to sociological scrutiny. That is to say, it needs to be looked at with just as much thoughtful skepticism as we would bring to the study of any food-related phenomenon.