Poor People in Haiti Forced to Eat Dirt

By Alex in Food & Drink on Jan 31, 2008 at 3:17 am

Unable to afford food, poor people in Haiti resorted to eating mud cookies made from dried yellow dirt:

Merchants truck the dirt from the central town of Hinche to the La Saline market, a maze of tables of vegetables and meat swarming with flies. 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.

The finished cookies are carried in buckets to markets or sold on the streets.

Link (Photo: Ariana Cubillos/AP)

Neat stuff from the NeatoShop:

LOL ITS LIEK COOKIES ! :D
Jan 31st, 2008 at 6:21 am
I HES COOKIES !
SId Morrison
Jan 31st, 2008 at 8:30 am
Yeah, there’s a country that is MUCH better off now than when they were getting oppressed by those imperialistic Europeans.
Joe
Jan 31st, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I would call that more sad, than neat.
Amy
Jan 31st, 2008 at 12:05 pm
They even have to BUY the dirt? WTF?? I agree w/ Joe, not so neat, but I do kinda wanna cry.
Googamooga
Jan 31st, 2008 at 12:27 pm
My brother used to eat dirt all the time as a kid, and he turned out fine. What’s the big deal?
VonSkippy
Jan 31st, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Remember shoppers, if the label doesn’t say “Hinche Dirt”, it’s just plain mud.
ryan
Jan 31st, 2008 at 9:53 pm
All humanitarian issues aside (if you really can put them aside), I think someone has got capitalism down pat if they built a sustainable market selling dirt.
LOL ITS LIEK COOKIES ! :D
Feb 1st, 2008 at 3:26 am
LOL I HES DIRT FOR SALE ! : D U GET GUD PRIZE ! : D
Jason E.
Feb 1st, 2008 at 12:27 pm
That’s nothing. In the United States there are companies that not only sell dirt… the RENT IT!

These are the companies that rent dirt to other companies who hold motocross events and monster truck rallies.

Talk about low overhead.
the king of dirt
Feb 7th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
This is not a joke I believe it’s a curios matter and if these dirt cookies are all they can eat this is truly a monstrosity they should be helped not mocked.
china
Apr 28th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Some of you are mean if you were forced to eat dirt how do you think you would feel!The king of dirt is right!The people who are making fun of them stop it!
china
Apr 28th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
THE KING OF DIRT ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
tom.j
Jan 18th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
I eat dirt because thats all I have. I have for the past seven years so some one feel sorry for me please.

Keep track of the comments with

Comment RSS

Lijit Search

The latest from NeatoBambino: