Trying a sample at the Museum of Edible Earth David Parry/PA Media Assignments
Eating earth (geophagy) is classified as a mental health condition by the American Psychiatric Association – unless it’s part of cultural practice.
We can explore this paradoxical relationship further as the comes to London’s Somerset House (until 26 April).
Visiting the exhibition, I found 600 or so samples of soil routinely ingested worldwide, collected by the museum’s founder masharu. There’s red ochre from South Africa (a source of iron), and black nakumatt clay used by pregnant women in India to ease nausea. Only two are officially available for tasting, as they are accredited UK food supplements.
Luvos Healing Earth, for digestive issues, is dished up like chocolate sprinkles, yet tastes more like the grit in unwashed leeks. I preferred Mexican diatomaceous earth, milled into silky, slightly sour flour. But more than its taste, I enjoyed imagining the aquatic organisms that fossilised into this earth millions of years ago.
Thomas Lewton,
Features editor, London
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