As someone who grew up in the South, and lived as a teenager in the '80s, this is the first time I'm hearing about this 'practice', other than a diagnosis in the DSM.

Let me tell you about scrapple.

I, as a life-long midwestener moved out to the "south east" Atlantic coast for a bit. Stopped in a diner one morning and got some breakfast, and they asked if I wanted scrapple with my breakfast. Not my first time seeing it on a menu around there, so I asked what it was, and they told me it was like an omelet, but made with apple and potato shavings. "Alright" I say, as I am open to trying new foods...

"What in the whole grain pancakes kind of fuck is this?!" I thought when my plate arrived. It was quite literally cutting board scraps, with like one scrambled egg added to bind it all together. Literally rough and dirty potato skins, and the ends of tomatoes, I literally found a fucking apple stem in mine. I figured they were playing some kind of joke on me, but I looked around, and other people had the same thing, and they were eating it the fuck up. So I gave it a try. Needless to say, undercooked potato and apple skins were not appetizing. The texture was like eating slices of bicycle innertube, and the flavor was akin to licking a well used, but unwashed cutting board.

Anyway, that was my first and last time trying scrapple. Learn from my mistake, you have been warned.

I've often heard some version of the suggestion that "kids should eat a pound of dirt by the time they're 5," to have healthy immune systems. The suggestion, as I've always understood it, is that kids should spend a lot of time outside, eating dirt incidentally from constantly being in nature, having dirty hands and dirt under their nails, tripping and falling in the dirt, breathing dirt kicked up while running around and rough housing, etc. Getting micro-exposure to lots of germs early through play to built up a strong immune response. I've never understood it to mean literal dirt eating, but now I wonder if that might be the origin.

Dirt (especially clay) is often rich in iron and magnesium. Humans used to use ceramic pottery extensively until recently. It wouldn't surprise me if there were some benefits.

My grandmother and mother both got pica during childbirth. Grandmother ate a spoonful of dirt and was satisfied, I'd have to call mother but I think she'd just ignore the question these days.

B.S.

I was baffled no one wrote here WHY anyone would do this. Here's the answer from the article:

Researchers say those who eat dirt do not do so to satisfy hunger or to meet a biochemical urge to acquire certain metals or minerals that might be missing from the diet. Rather, they do so because the practice has been learned culturally. Links Are Traced to West Africa

Dr. Frate said dirt eating is one of the few customs surviving among some Southern blacks that can be directly traced to ancestral origins in West Africa. Dirt-eating is common among some tribes in Nigeria today.

According to his research, Dr. Frate said it was not uncommon for slave owners to put masks over the mouths of slaves to keep them from eating dirt. The owners thought the practice was a cause of death and illness among slaves, when they were more likely dying from malnutrition.

Several of my great aunts and uncles did this. And yeah, after they moved away they would have small boxes of dirt shipped to them from family that stayed behind.

White, Volga German descended farmer people, moved from the Midwest to the West Coast US.

Very much not true. lol

Edit: unless they meant clay, in which case: sometimes for severe stomach issues.

You know, this explains a lot about the South...

I remember making mud pies as a kid. We never ate them though.

Calm down everyone. They dug it from preferred dirt, cooked it, and seasoned it with salt and vinegar. Serving size = about a handful. Lay's sells a product with those exact same specifications.

If I were that Southerner, and some professor guy comes along, I would tell him such stories too.

It's still common to eat clay to get the minerals, help with digestion or reduce hunger in parts of Africa see the Contemporary practices section: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geophagia

At first I was imagining just a handful of dirt from a grassy patch - but it seems to be implied that they're actually eating clay - which I vaguely remember being told can help with a sore stomach.

However I'm also aware that clay can contain heavy metals, which baking can't remove, so I'm inclined to stay away and just have a bit of bread instead.

In Germany, clay is sold in drugstores to cure digestion issues or as mineral supply for hair and nails. I think they knew what they were doing and were shamed out of continuing.

It was common among black women in certain communities in rural Alabama and Mississippi - not a common nationwide practice of all americans.

I wonder if it’s because of iron deficiency.