The ‘respectable’ potbelly?

Potbellies have always been considered a symbol of prosperity, prestige and wealth; that is of course, as far as African societies are concerned. When people see a man with a potbelly, he strikes them  as a symbol of success and wealth. A potbelly will get you a front sit in church or at wedding.  It will get you favours at the Mudugudu meetings: If you stand up to speak everyone will listen attentively.   I remember a relative who was married for three years but was always picked on by his friends because he did not have a potbelly. “Your wife doesn’t feed you well,  that is why you are so skinny,” they chided him. This is how African societies  cherished the potbelly back then but times have changed.