According to Peter Freuchen, who lived among the Greenland Inuit for several
decades, fat women were greatly desired:

"If such a neat and clever girl should also happen to be fat, then she is
really the village belle.  An Eskimo cannot give his wife jewelry, new hats,
or other things that will demonstrate his wealth, nor can wealth be
demonstrated in clothing: all the women's apparel is pretty much alike.  It
is therefore essential that she appear well fed!  As a result, there must be
lots of food -- and fattening foods, too -- at his house, and his family
will enjoy respect and a good reputation.  A fat girl is always popular
because, as a wife, she will be easier to keep in style, and stoutness is
identical with beauty among the Eskimos.

This reminds me of Inuiyak who was one of my Eskimo helpers durings the
Fifth Thule Expedition and whom, when I was about to return to Denmark, I
paid with such gear as I was not going to use any more.  He got sled and
dogs, axes, knives, and a gun.  All of a sudden he became a tycoon among his
people, and his first thought was to get a wife.  In Repulse Bay, he asked
for a few days off, and came back with a bride.  Being so rich, he had of
course no difficulty in getting the fattest one in the place.  When Inuiyak
came driving up with her on his sled, he made a big to-do out of puffing and
panting so that we all could see how hard he had to push.  We gave them a
real celebration, but the next day we regretted it.  We had counted on
Inuiyak to take a load on his sled for us on the month-long journey we still
had left.  But he was no longer the same man!

'My wife is so fat,' he bragged.  'No dogs can drag this heavy burden.  She
is too big to run, so others will have to talke those boxes!'

This was shouted in a loud voice so everybody could hear it.  The intention
was to flatter the beauteous lady; being in love has strange effects on
people.  So Inuiyak wasn't very useful to us any more." (Book of the
Eskimos, p. 87)

Cheers,
-- Aaron Wieland