[UA] Edible clay?

[Chad Underkoffler]

> Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 18:20:19 +0200
> From: Mario Magallanes <aegis at wanadoo.es>
>
> Patrick O'Duffy escribió:
> > 1 - What's the real deal with this sort of thing?
> > Religious ritual, quack healing, wierd fetish or not? 
> > What real-world rituals and myths are based on eating clay
> > and dirt?
>
> Real life, no idea. The only thing that comes to mind is 
> Kim Stanley Robinson's RED MARS, where a colonist faction
> eat pieces of Martian soil as sort of communion rite.

It can be called "pica."

http://kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_fit/nutrition/pica.html

Causes of pica:

http://kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_fit/nutrition/pica_p3.html

More resources:

http://www.eating-disorder.org/pica.html
http://www.tdo.com/features/environ/wiaz/0331wiaz.htm
http://geography.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa092997.htm



=====
Chad Underkoffler [chadu at yahoo.com]
http://www.geocities.com/chadu/index.html
"You left out a Hoongadoonga! The most important one, too!"
  - Capt. Jeffrey T. Spaulding (Groucho Marx)

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