Whereas abundant consumption of food and larger bodies were considered marks of power and success in earlier eras, Europeans during the Enlightenment increasingly regard "gluttony" as a sign of debasement and greed.

This concept will become distinctly racialized, as European colonizers begin describing African peoples they encounter as "gluttonous," "having no moderation in eating or drinking," "greedy," and "fat" (Strings, 2019). Stereotypes begin to emerge that all African peoples have large buttocks, breasts, and wide hips, and descriptions of African people who are small and thin stop appearing in settler accounts.