Eating Dirt

Geophagy is the act of eating earth - clay or chalk like substances. This is different than the disorder Pica. Geophagy is not considered a disorder, just something people do.

There seems to be 2 reasons people eat clay or dirt, if they do not have a mental disorder like Pica. One reason is that clay in your system can leach out dangerous toxins in food. The other is that some people just crave it!

You can actually buy dirt for eating, see http://whitedirt.samsbiz.com/. Yum!

Eating clay is prevalent in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and the Southern United States. According to a 1986 article in the New York Times:

To this day, many rural Southern blacks dig clays with the desired sour taste from local pits, often from subsoil in roadbanks, Dr. Vermeer said. ''In Alabama, damage to roadbanks in some places has been so extensive that the highway department has posted signs requesting local residents not to dig into them,'' he noted.

The clay is baked and often mixed with vinegar and salt. In northern cities, some women who crave clay have their favorite types sent by Southern relatives, while others consume Argo starch, which has similar properties, as a substitute.

Some poor whites in the South also eat clay despite strong social pressures not to. Although American physicians tend instinctively to condemn the practice, ''no current evidence indicates that normal consumption of clays in the American South is either beneficial or harmful,'' Dr. Vermeer said. Eating of excessive quantities can cause intestinal blockage.

OK, that is weird, but it is considered within the range of normal human behavior, unlike harvesting and ingesting bear bile and monkey brains!

Potatoes originated from South America. The original varieties contained poisonous toxins and could only be tolerated by the consumer eating the vegetable with clay that leached out the toxins. Even today these types of potatoes can be found in South American markets, and you can buy jars of clay that you are to coat your tongue with before eating the potatoes. Potato affectionados claim the poisonous ones are the best tasting ones.

Pregnant women are known for craving strange food. Coincidentally pregnant women are the largest consumers of clay.

Eating clay in Sierra Leon

Now that you know geophagy exists, and that it is not harmful, wanna try some?







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