A woman makes "cookies" out of mud to sell in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince - pic

[Kadie]

Dirt wafers: A woman makes "cookies" out of mud to sell in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. The pies, made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening, were already one of very few options for the poorest in Haiti even before the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.

Photo: Rodrigo Abd / AP

[Libertas1776]

1. No words...

:-(

[BoWanZi]

2. Wait, what?

You are supposed to eat those things?

How horrible.

[secondwind]

3. actually, this is what was done years and years ago, even our slaves ate dirt....

It isn't uncommon, even today. Dirt provided much-needed minerals to a poor diet.

[Warpy]

4. Mud cookies there are made from a very specific clay

and do supply some minerals that are otherwise hard to get on the typical Haitian diet. In addition, they taste good to people who are used to them and stop one's stomach from hurting until the next meal is found. The fat also supplies energy, so it's not a total loss.

Yes, they deserve better, they've always deserved better.

[Canuckistanian]

7. Pica disorder

The eating of non-food items such as clay is common in regions of malnutrition.

Some pregnant women who have had the disorder in youth sometimes crave clay and/or mud.

It's thought to be related to iron or zinc deficency.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/pica.html

[cliffordu]

5. Newsflash:

The Haitians have been doing this FOR YEARS.

[Shell Beau]

8. Doesn't make it any easier to see. They deserve better than a mud cookie.

Everyone deserves better than a mud cookie.

[cliffordu]

10. Why all the concern now??? Oh, I KNOW!!!!!

Now that everyone has had to pay attention to the poorest fucking country in the western hemisphere.

Amazing how ignorant people here are about other nations. Even the relatively close ones.

[G_j]

11. those are actually our neighbors

who have been starving for years

[cliffordu]

16. I am well aware of that, and have donated goods and

tools to people doing work down there.

I am only commenting on the surprise here at DU.

[G_j]

26. yes, I was just joining in,

and agreeing with you. well said

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cliffordu]

17. You were obviously oblivious to the mud pies in haiti.

Weren't cha??

[Shell Beau]

20. No, I'd rather continue to ignore it and find it ok that people

still have to eat mudpies because it is what they do. :eyes:

[SallyMander]

19. So you think we should KEEP ignoring Haiti

just for the sake of consistency or something? SMH.

[cliffordu]

27. No. I'm just surprised that anyone at DU would be surprised.

I kinda expected most here to have known how destitute that country has been for, oh, I dunno, forever, or at least since Monsanto (....Carghill??) put the small scale farmers out of business with "Free trade" cheap rice.....Under NAFTA, IIRc... a monopoly that killed the island's ability to grow much of it's own food....

:shrug:

[qazplm]

21. a little over the top

there is poverty and hunger and pain here in America, and among billions of people all over the world. The fact that someone doesn't know about one specific practice in one nation on this planet does not make them "ignorant" in the pejorative sense you intend.

I suspect there are all sorts of practices that YOU aren't aware of.

[flvegan]

24. Thank you.

For speaking my mind so well.

[SallyMander]

25. You said it better than i did above

but yes, THIS.

[Arugula Latte]

31. Jesus. How high is that horse of yours?

[Brother Buzz]

9. Yes, and it appears that lady has mastered her craft

She's doing a brisk business I suspect.

[Shell Beau]

15. She has definitely mastered her craft. Those mud patties are

actually pretty.

[Brother Buzz]

30. Here's an eye opening video on the cakes. It's a much larger industry than I first suspected

http://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/02/19/dirt-poor-haitians-eat-cookies-made-of-mud/4120/

[Liberal_in_LA]

18. Yep. It's ridiculous that they have to live that way. we should been helping BEFORE the earthquake

[patrice]

6. Oh dear . . . !

:-(

[Quantess]

12. I wonder what the dog eats?

Is he stealing a cookie?

[The Midway Rebel]

14. This stabs me in the heart. n/t

[peacetalksforall]

22. Please, please do not leave this thread without acknowledging the US, France, Canada and especially

the IMF and World Bank. On one day in the first week someone posted that they hoped that Haiti's debt had been forgiven. What did the IMF do - they announced that they were extending the loan by 100 million. The balance was already 165 million. They also said that their would be new rules - in effect crapping on them in plain daylight of the aftermath. The US has been doing this to them for centuries and the stole their President and moved him to Africa. A well loved President who wasn't doing what the US, France, Canada and the IMF and World Bank wanted him to do. Stole their President. Some call it a coup d'etat. Some call it regime change. Who did the US and World Bank plannters group bring in from the Dominican R by plan - killers who massacred the supporters of the elected President.

Where was benelovent oversite of the money spent on those buldings that fell like pancakes.

What is their purpose - to see how much they can make the people of a country suffer - a test before they do the same thing to us? They chose the wrong people - those people have mettle - they have strength.

I hope to post the sanction the IMF imposed along with their 100 million extension. You wll really get an accurate picture of the utter cruelness of this country and others - remember the IMF and World Bank are represented by many countries.

Right now, we hear that they are surviving on their own in little communities - and have come up with their own money system through plain organization because their leadership is so weak and unprepared. They are weak because they bow to all the foreigners who own the country. They don't lead, they obey.

Edited to add:
"Those conditions include raising prices for electricity, refusing pay raises for any public sector employees except those making minimum wage and keeping inflation as low as possible." I originally read a longer list of conditions - one involved new employees.

But now it looks like their are announcements coming from them about interest fee and a future cancellation. Let's see it.

http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2010/01/imf-clarifies-terms-haitis-loan

Haiti owned money to Venezuela (fuel, I believe). Chavez cancelled the debt.






http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2010/01/imf-clarifies-terms-haitis-loan

[Blue_Tires]

32. +1

[KittyWampus]

23. There are some people in the world who might benefit from having to eat mud cookies for

a week.

Maybe their hearts would open.

[KingFlorez]

28. It is really sad to see this

Food prices have been through the roof for awhile. Haiti grows almost none of it's own food, they import just about everything.

[voc]

29. Red clay dirt is

still eaten right here in America - today.