[HN Gopher] Eating the red soil of Rainbow Island
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       Eating the red soil of Rainbow Island
        
       Author : CapitalistCartr
       Score  : 19 points
       Date   : 2022-01-20 11:59 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.atlasobscura.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.atlasobscura.com)
        
       | pessimizer wrote:
       | https://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/13/us/southern-practice-of-e...
       | 
       | I've known plenty of southern black women who love, or remember
       | loving, eating red dirt. I don't know any under 75, though.
        
         | madaxe_again wrote:
         | Reminiscent of Galettes in Haiti, which is still common
         | practice.
         | 
         | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_cookie
        
         | melissalobos wrote:
         | That was very interesting, in the Times article they note that
         | they don't eat it to get any minerals or other nutrients, which
         | was my first thought. Do you have any idea why they do it?
        
           | amelius wrote:
           | I hope not for lack of other options.
        
             | pessimizer wrote:
             | The last person I met who ate it (whose eyes almost rolled
             | back in her head recalling how much she loved it) was an
             | accountant who made a better living than I did.
        
           | pessimizer wrote:
           | The taste.
        
             | melissalobos wrote:
             | That just seems very very strange to me, having never eaten
             | dirt myself or known anyone who has.
        
               | teruakohatu wrote:
               | Ever met a toddler? I would wager you ate a handful in
               | your formative years on at least one occasion.
        
               | CapitalistCartr wrote:
               | Southern red dirt is mostly clay.
        
               | pessimizer wrote:
               | Yes, it's specific dirt, not just any dirt.
        
       | jhgb wrote:
       | I wonder if this is where the "red clay clods" from Stuart
       | Smith's _Rivers of Light_ came from, since pretty much anything
       | in that game seems to be based on ancient history and /or
       | mythology.
        
       | aaron695 wrote:
        
       | hn_throwaway_99 wrote:
       | I thought this was a really interesting article, but calling
       | gelak "the edible red earth" seems a bit of a misnomer. Lots of
       | things could be considered "edible" then if you can put them in
       | your mouth and swallow, and they don't kill you. Sounds like
       | sooragh is basically just a fermented fish sauce, very similar to
       | ancient Roman garum, and the soil just dyes it a pretty red
       | (which, in fairness, the article points out).
        
       | melissalobos wrote:
       | It seems like in this case the addition of the dirt might add
       | some iron to their diet.
       | 
       | > Mehravari confirms that gelak "contains several different iron
       | chemicals. It is possible that for those who are iron-deficient,
       | eating the sauce will help increase the required level of iron in
       | the body."
       | 
       | I remember reading another article years ago about scientists
       | trying to give some people a "lucky" iron fish to add to their
       | pots while cooking rice to add extra iron, since the cookware was
       | no long iron based.
        
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