Dirt Cookies

[Papewaio]

Haiti's poorest reduced to eating dirt

Mud cookies - made from dirt, salt and vegetable shortening - have become popular among Haitians desperate to stave off hunger, the Associated Press reports.

The cookies - which are occasionally used by pregnant women and children as an antacid and source of calcium - have become a regular meal.

Seventy-six per cent of the population lives on less than $2.25 a day, and 55 per cent live on less than $1.13 a day.

The mud cookies sell for around five cents each, compared to 60 cents for two cups of rice.

The photos of hundreds of dirt cookies that are made are incredible.

Amazing what people will do to survive, and also amazing that given their poverty they keep bringing in kids into the world. Haiti has almost the same population as neighbouring Dominican Republic, but only half the area and 20% of the per capita GDP.

Inspirational or straight Pathos?

[Peasant Phill]

There has always been a correlation between the relative income and the number of children. Just look at how the number of children have declined in the rich west since the beginning of the last century. I believe the reason lies in security. More children mean more mouths to feed but also more potential providers for the rest of the parents lives. There are probably more things working here, it would be nice to get a academic answer on this.

On the dirt eating:
It's a shame that people have to live like that but, at the risk at sounding cynical, Haïti is hardly the first and won't be the last example of this.

[Vladimir]

I heard that Haitians mark their border with a line of feces. Eating dirt, sex with chickens, and other acts don't surprise me.

[CrossLOPER]

I heard that Haitians mark their border with a line of feces. Eating dirt, sex with chickens, and other acts don't surprise me.

DevDave, is that you?

[Rameusb5]

Does it strike anyone else but me as being fundamentally wrong that people who live on an island are so starved for food?

The Hatian government must be a total joke.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Haiti's poorest reduced to eating dirt

Can't they eat cake instead then?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sorry, that was in bad taste.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Then again, not as bad in taste as mud.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

*tries to avoid warning points for poking fun at the dirt poor by diverting attention away to these interesting photographs of Haïtians baking their rather amusingly named 'tablettes d'argile' - clay tablets.

[Papewaio]

Mudcake actually is healthy in comparison.