Talk:Geophagy

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[edit] southeastern United States

In the southeastern United States especially tasty dirt (usually a chalky dirt with a certain flavor) is sold in local stores or sent to friends and family who are no longer living near the source of this dirt.

Is this true? Fascinating!

Are such soils available for purchase online anywhere? About how much would a sack of dirt for human consumption run? Can I perhaps order custom blends of soil if I prefer my dirt with less clay, more loam, and at least one whole earthworm in each cup of soil? Could I mix soil and milk in my blender for a tasty mudshake? Or perhaps some hot water for a good ol' cup of muddy water?

In case you were serious, you can buy clay to eat, try a search for 'bentonite clay'.

And kudos for teaching the new word, by the way. Next time someone bothers me, I'll just tell them "Oh, go geophage!" Garrett Albright 04:34, 20 Feb 2004 (UTC)

But is it true? About stores in the southeast selling particular local soil specifically for eating? After two years in the article without a citation, and after having grown up in the southeast without noticing soil-for-eating on store shelves (can't say I was looking, though), I'm starting to doubt it. Anyone have a source for this? Allen 05:46, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

No sources after over a year of discussion, so I'm taking it out. --Allen 22:10, 15 January 2006 (UTC)
there are some references in the human geophagy scientific literature which refer to people shipping highly sought after soils from the south to the Chicago area after relatives and friends moved north and couldn't find the good stuff up there. i've never heard of people selling it locally in the southeast of the USA, but it wouldn't surprise me.Jamiegilardi 19:24, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] North Korea?

I have read about people eating clay in North Korea, presumably because of malnutrition. Is this common during famine conditions in other places? --Reuben 21:58, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes, there are reports of this in Africa where people not only seek out wild plants which they wouldn't normally eat during a famine, but also that they eat more soil as part of the same process. One could paint an adaptive story around this, but I don't think there's much direct evidence for a clean cause and effect.
That said, rats respond to nausea by eating clay in such a predictable way that the amount of clay consumed has been used as a direct measure of nausea. So facultative and adaptive geophagy is something we should really expect in highly sophisticated omnivores, including human, rather than to expect the opposite.Jamiegilardi 19:24, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Suicide Method?

In this novel geophagy is mentioned as a method for suicide. It is said, that this was common among African American slaves. Anyone know anything about this? gbrandt 11:12, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

If you read the pica literature, you'll find comments like this. However, the assumption in the geophagy literature is that adaptive geophagy came to the USA from Africa and so most of what was exhibited by slaves here was more likley associated with nausea, pregnancy, gastric discomfort, or all of the above. It's a pretty absurd way to try to kill yourself, after all, but surely less plausible things have happend in those extreme times.Jamiegilardi 19:24, 17 September 2007 (UTC)