Mmmm.

Geophagy, Pliny, What's that?

You do not know? In the case of the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo it is the eating of clay, in order to detoxify their food.

Oh yuck! Eating dirt!

It is a practice more common than you might think. Other animals eat clay and chalk for the same reasons. But did you know that humans too have eaten dirt for thousands of years? Pregnant women often express a craving for dirt. It is believed to aid in the supression of nausea. It also aids in the treatment of diarrhoea. You have heard of Kaolin, I suppose?

Yes, I have! And now you mention it I remember one of the characters in One Hundred Years of Solitude began to eat dirt when she was pregnant. I thought it was just magical realism at the time.

Oh no. Even today, in very poor countries such as Haiti, it is not uncommon to find the people eating little pancakes made of dirt. They call them bon bons de terres. I believe they add a little shortening, salt and sometimes sugar to make them more palatable.

Do they? Mmmm.