Food shortages in Haiti force Haitians to eat dirt cookies
There are places in the world where people are not so fortunate, and one of those places is Haiti, where food shortages are forcing people to eat cookies made from the dirt. Mud cakes. Clay biscuits. Whatever you call it, it's not a good thing.
To be fair, it's not like their just sticking their head in the ground and chewing.... no, Haitians are making cookies from an edible clay found on the island, mixed with vegetable shortening and baked in the sun.
From the article:
"The mud has long been prized by pregnant women and children here as an antacid and source of calcium. But in places like Cite Soleil, the oceanside slum where Charlene shares a two-room house with her baby, five siblings and two unemployed parents, cookies made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening have become a regular meal."
The children don't mind the taste of the cookies, but the rising food costs are forcing poverty-level Haitians to rely on the cookies for every meal.
"At the market in the La Saline slum, two cups of rice now sell for 60 cents, up 10 cents from December and 50 percent from a year ago. Beans, condensed milk and fruit have gone up at a similar rate, and even the price of the edible clay has risen over the past year by almost $1.50. Dirt to make 100 cookies now costs $5, the cookie makers say."
