Imagine being so poor that you have no choice but to eat dirt. Unfortunately, many impoverished children in Haiti wake up facing just that scenario. In Haiti, where significant challenges have drastically increased the price of food, some people resort to eating mud cookies to survive.
A mud cookie (Haitian Creole: bonbon tè, lit. 'earth cookie', pronounced [bɔ̃bɔ̃ tɛ]) is a famine food that is eaten in Haiti by children or expectant mothers. They can be found in slums like Cité Soleil.
Mud cookies drying in the sun in Haiti.
The Making and Consumption of Mud Cookies
Dirt is collected from the nation's central plateau, near the town of Hinche, and trucked over to the market. Women buy the dirt, then process it into mud cookies in places such as Fort Dimanche, a nearby shanty town.
Carrying buckets of dirt and water up ladders to the roof of the former prison for which the slum is named, they strain out rocks and clumps on a sheet, and stir in shortening and salt. Then they pat the mixture into mud cookies and leave them to dry under the scorching sun.
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The finished cookies are carried in buckets to markets or sold on the streets. At about 5 cents apiece, the cookies are a bargain compared to food staples.
The Purpose and Taste
Mud cakes serve one purpose: to fill you up when the hunger hurts too much. A reporter sampling a cookie found that it had a smooth consistency and sucked all the moisture out of the mouth as soon as it touched the tongue. For hours, an unpleasant taste of dirt lingered.
Charlene Dumas, a 16-year-old mother, relies on these cookies when her family has nothing else to eat. "When my mother does not cook anything, I have to eat them three times a day," Dumas said.
Though she likes their buttery, salty taste, Charlene said the cookies also give her stomach pains. "When I nurse, the baby sometimes seems colicky too," she said.
Haitian Eat Mud Cookies To Survive | Human Documentary
The Nutritional Reality
It was an unusual request: a nutritional assessment of mud. Before I could advise otherwise, he broke off a crumb, put it in his mouth, and winced. “Some mud tastes okay,” he confessed. “But this is really bitter.” On the submission form he wrote Torta de barro (mud cake). The assessment would take about a week.
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As I awaited the results of the mud cake test, I found myself gunning for the underdog. I was hoping for just one small surprise, some kind of redeeming nutritional feature. In fact, there were several surprises. The cake contained around 50 percent more iron than the equivalent weight of nutritionally improved beans. It also contained roughly 4.5 times the potassium of a banana and similar levels of zinc as a small oyster.
CIAT nutrition expert Luis Londoño walked me through the results, bringing both me and the mud cake down to Earth with a bump. “There are high levels of some nutrients,” he agreed. “But they’re not bioavailable; when you eat them, your body can’t access them.” He explained that the nutrients were locked inside silicates - complex salts with hard shells that pass through the human body undigested.
But he did confess to being momentarily shocked by the result for fat content. At first, it looked like a false positive; as a rule, there’s no fat in mud. But as he investigated mud cakes online, the source of the fat became clear: The maker of this particular cake had indeed added some margarine to the mix. So that’s that: Mud cakes are closer to pottery than food.
“There’s nothing surprising at all?” I prodded. “For me, the only surprise is that people actually eat these,” he replied, solemnly.
Back at my desk with the pieces of mud cake in front of me, I broke off a crumb and put it in my mouth. Call it primary research if you like. But I felt compelled to get a glimpse of what that level of dietary desperation tasted like.
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Health Implications
Assessments of the health effects are mixed. Dirt can contain deadly parasites or toxins, but it can also strengthen the immunity of fetuses in the womb to certain diseases, said Gerald N. Callahan, an immunology professor at Colorado State University who has studied geophagy, the scientific name for dirt-eating.
Haitian doctors say depending on the cookies for sustenance risks malnutrition. "Trust me, if I see someone eating those cookies, I will discourage it," said Dr. Gabriel Thimothee, executive director of Haiti's health ministry.
Geophagia: The Practice of Eating Dirt
Dirt eating, also known as geophagia, is when you have the urge to eat dirt. Children sometimes do it, and it has also been linked to pregnancy, some psychological conditions, and nutrient deficiencies. Some experts have suggested it happens because of famine and poverty. In most cases, people eat dirt to help ease stomach troubles or nutrient deficiencies.
With pica, you have the strong urge to eat items that aren’t food. You might crave dirt, clay, chalk, and/or starch. You will also likely eat large amounts of these things. Pregnant women in parts of Africa commonly eat dirt. They crave the taste and texture. Usually, the choice of dirt is red clay. There are medicinal, cultural, and religious reasons behind this practice.
If you have iron deficiency anemia, you may want to eat dirt. While soil does contain minerals and nutrients, it’s not a safe way to get them into your body. Certain cultures believe eating dirt can be good for you. These beliefs are rooted in earlier times when soil was used to soothe digestive problems. People in some cultures eat dirt to relieve ulcers, diarrhea, or menstrual pain.
The Dangers of Eating Dirt
Although geophagia has been practiced for centuries, that doesn’t mean it’s safe. There are many reasons that you should avoid eating dirt. Some of these dangers include:
- Mineral deficiency: Geophagia has been linked to iron deficiencies. When you eat clay, your body can’t absorb iron as well. This may lead to a zinc deficiency.
- Toxic soil: Eating dirt can be dangerous because of what’s in it. Soil may contain heavy metals, human waste, parasites, and other harmful substances.
- Ascariasis: This is a condition common in children who eat dirt in Nigeria. It happens when they become infected with a parasite known as ascarid worms.
Addressing the Root Causes
Kick-starting agriculture in the country could help reduce import dependence, boost incomes, and improve nutrition. But it’s no mean feat, and many have tried. Farmers lack seeds, machinery, and irrigation systems, plus Haiti has notoriously poor soils and no official agricultural advice service.
HarvestPlus took the plunge in 2012. The programme works to breed critically important vitamins and micronutrients into staple crops and get them to farmers and consumers. By 2030, the programme hopes to reach 1 billion people with a range of nutritionally superior crops.
Seeds of iron-rich beans - much easier to transport than cassava seedlings - have been successfully tested and selected in Haiti, a result of work by CIAT and Catholic Relief Services. If HarvestPlus work on beans moves ahead in Haiti, these will be the varieties they use.
In the north of the country - one of the areas where domestic rice production prevails - HarvestPlus work with the iF Foundation*, is going well. Zinc-rich rice could soon be used in iF’s school feeding programme.
The HarvestPlus work that’s perhaps most advanced in Haiti involves sweet potato. There, a team of local partners were harvesting trials of the vitamin A-rich types developed by the International Potato Center. The team ensured they were free from pests and diseases as part their work to multiply the stock; next they’ll be distributed to farmers.
For Marillia Nutti, HarvestPlus coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, the challenges point to the need for in-country crop improvement programmes, and closer ties with Haiti’s increasingly capable universities, to help the work gain traction.
Conclusion
Eating dirt cookies in Haiti is a stark reminder of the extreme poverty and food insecurity that many face. While these cookies may temporarily alleviate hunger, they pose significant health risks and are not a sustainable solution. Addressing the root causes of poverty and improving access to nutritious food are essential steps towards a healthier future for the people of Haiti.
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