some migratory birds put on 50% of their lean weight in fat in just a few weeks, then fly 3,000 to 4,000 kilometers from the northeast United States to South America without refueling. In seasonally
cold parts of the world, fattening has been part of the resonance of autumn, the time when wild game animals are at their plumpest and most appealing, and when humans practice their cultural version of fattening, the harvest and storing of crops that will see them through winter’s scarcity.