In this easily readable, but nonetheless ambitious book, [Deborah] Gewertz and [Frederick] Errington apply their longstanding interest in change in Papua New Guinea to the controversies surrounding the sale and purchase of lamb and mutton fat among, what they call, "Flap Food Nations." They suggest that flaps embody numerous ambiguities about postcolonial relations between the Pacific Islands (specifically Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Tonga) and Australia and New Zealand. Although they are a tasty and important source of nutrition for many Pacific Islanders, they are also widely seen as "by-products," "dumped" upon the poor by wealthier nations. Furthermore, given an escalating incidence of obesity in the Pacific Islands, flaps--themselves more than 50 percent fat--have come to represent the region's high prevalence of dietary-related illnesses (diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, etc). Gewertz and Errington suggest that because of their complicated symbolism, flaps function like totems, marking group membership--in this case third-world eaters and first-world refusers. This totemic quality of flaps additionally references inextricable relations of dependency, indexing those who live in a second-rate modernity in which they rely upon a second-rate source of food.