European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 26, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse A taste for dirt by Kathy org associated presso Nece Johnson tried hard la Hick she. Habit she took up smoking. She began Yahng aun ciry starch As a substitute Bui Iho old craving still Imago cd Johnson has to have a daily a. At did particularly hot favorite Crunchy Clay. The 33-year-old woman is one of a dwindling number of Clay caters in America perpetuating an african. Custom brought to Iho United Stales by Black slaves i be tried to wean myself away from says Johnson showing a visitor the site of the Besl tasting dirt at Lexington in her native Holmes county on the Edge of inc Mississippi Delta on a daily average. I d say i d oat a Laboc spoonful us enough Logel a taste in my Mouth like pinching Lovacco an auth oily on Del eating is or. Dennis Fate. A medical anthropologist and program director of inc University of Mississippi s Rural to ally research program in Goodman. It s analogous to eating potato Frale says. A snack Good is what it Johnson a staff member Al the stale s shelter workshop for to handicapped in Lexington says Dirl tastes like. ,. Welt dirt. It really does t have a significant taste she says. You know when to Fains How Iho Earth smells. It tastes to me similar to what it smells Frale conducted a study in 1971 thai found that one out of four adult women in Holmes county ate dirt regularly. To said Din eating has been imported throughout the South though he knows of no recent studies. For unknown reasons Frato says few men eat dirt in America while both men and women Eal dirt pellets sold in the markets of West Africa although there is a slight risk of ingesting parasites or impacting Iho Colon with Large amounts Ole a Frale says the practice generally in l harmful to the eater s health. Fralc conducted a Tolloty up study of Dut eaters four years ago which was published by the new York Academy of sciences. The study showed that most Holmes county dirt eaters had switched to potentially harmful substitutes such As laundry starch or baking soda which have a texture similar to the dirt to says the subsist Ulics Are particular a threatening because Thoy contribute to High blood pressure. Johnson says doctors Lold her that women. Particularly when pregnant craved the dirt because Ofa nutritional deficiency Bui she never believed that. Because she eats a balanced diet and continued. Wanting dirt Long Afler her babies were born. After studying blood samples of Bolh dirt eaters and non eaters Frale concluded thai the nutritional status of the iwo groups did t differ statistically. The study reputed the Long held belief thai malnutrition contributed to the practice an idea Frale said was first advanced in a new Orleans medical journal in the Erma Bombeck Onace Johnson holds handful of dirt from site of he Best lasting dirt in hot native Holmes county miss 1850s by a doctor studying the health of slaves. Cravings Welt sure Frale says. I m an italian american and i get cravings for pasta Al least twice a month i be got to have my pasta. It s the same thing. There s not a physiological urge that tells me i need this. 1 just like How it lastes.". But Fralc says dirt eating is probably going out of Vogue oven in the Rural South. "1 think when this generation of women those 45 and older is gone ii s going to to unheard of but Johnson notes there is visible evidence Hal dirt eaters Are far from extinct. She Points to a scooped Oul Hillside along Mississippi Highway 17 about two Miles Southeast of Lexington. It s one of two Sites she knows of where local people continue to get dirt to eat. Not just any Dirl will do ii has to be the right kind of Crunchy Clay. Frate says the most popular eating dirt is a Light Brown Clay known scientifically As red yellow. Pozzoli soil Johnson says she knows of a few people who mail shoe boxes Lull of local Dirl to relatives who can t find suitable Sites up frate Al tributes the craving for dirt simply to easy childhood eating habits. Johnson agrees her children Don l cat dirt because Hoy grew up in Urban Jackson. It s a Universal practice Frale says if you look Al the ethnographic the anthropological Hlor lure every major cultural group has at one time in their history been documented As Consumers of says Plato was the f isl one to mention it in writing greek women consuming soil.". Frate said he does t exp eco the practice for Many years Evan in Alrica i m sure As thud would nations become More technological they la change like. This area did literally leave the soil behind " i i got a virus Tho same week the nation s computers did. The computers got theirs from a 23 year old kid from Arnold. My i got mine from shaking hands in Church and saying peace be with you. The computer virus made the National news. By virus Gol a Yawn from my husband who said gel dressed and you la feel better.". Frankly. Don t like computers taking on human airs ii they want to gel a fungus when someone spills Coffee on heir keys. Of but a virus belongs to people who can eel and throw up Tea few Short years the computer has Gollen More respect than people have in the last two centuries. I Don t know Why. As my husband pressed a Brown grocery bag into a waste can and mechanically shoved it near my bed he this is terrible. Have you any idea inc damage a computer virus could do to this country it could bring it to its Knees. 1 crawled to the bathroom. Listen to this he Yei fed. The virus spread to More than 6,000 computers in lop universities research. Centers and military installations. We re just Lucky our computer was t _ i grabbed a nose tissue and pulled myself into bed the Only thing you be stored on it Are serial .-.-. Can you imagine he said what would happen l they were Ilca Ting around Oul there Lor the world to see or worse in they wore erased computers always act like they re sick to me. They re always making those whining sounds As. Though they re not going to show up for the next. Printout. And no one Ever wants to admin that a. Computer made a mistake remember a letter i got a while Back from a woman who whole thai More than two years ago her daughter went to the Bank to close her account and wrote Oul a withdrawal slip for $99. The Teller gave her $999 her daughter said she d love in but she had Only. $99 in her account. The Teller said someone must have deposited it for her. The computer never makes a. Mistake she said the girl spent six months trying to give the Money Back to the Bank. They refused to Lake h. Her daughter had her Teeth fixed and the Teeth of her two boys because computers Don l make mistakes. Frankly i never look computers too seriously i figured they were a lad like the Hula hoop and the Pel Rock until one Day in Fileno s basement in lights dimmed and there was silence. All the computers had gone out. Have you any idea what it s like to be in a store Lull of crazed shoppers with Money and bargains and he computers won t permit you to buy anything an ugly sight. The poin is. The computers Are Well again i m soil led and have a cough thai is hanging on. They la Lind a cure Lor the common cold when a computer catches one saturday november 26, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 17
