Gavage in Mauritania

Video Transcript

'Gavage' came from the French word where they take a duck and they force-feed it. They put that, if you Google it you'll see they put [something] like a [funnel] for the [motor] oil. When you pour the oil, what do you call that? A cone? It's literally a cone, [a] long one, [and] they put it in the mouth of the duck and they force-feed the duck, and the duck will become fat and therefore you have 'fois gras.' Basically 'liver fat,' right? In Mauritania it's the same process, except they don't [use] that cone. They force the girls to have three, four liters, sometimes, of milk, fat milk, in a day, to force them to get fat. And the fatter they are, the softer the skin will be, OK? [Sometimes] they say even the skin will be lighter skin, because it stretches. And that's a [sign of] beauty for the [men], [and] sought after for marriage by men. Just be aware of it. If you are in a meeting, if you are in a setting walking around with the interpreter, with another officer. We have [a] tendency to go, 'Man, look at the bootie on that!' For example, which is possible. They frown on that, be careful. Because his sister is probably, [before marriage], is going through that process and you might offend somebody. That's all.

In this video, a Mauritanian expert explains gavage.