this post was submitted on 18 May 2026
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Today I Learned

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[โ€“] HeHoXa@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 day ago

Born in the southern US. Great grandparents were dairy farmers in AL. Doesn't get much more rural southern.

Asked my family about this. My granddad had heard that people existed who did this when he was a child (~1940's-50's?) but never saw it nor heard of it since. Nobody else had heard of it at all.

I'm sure it must've happened, but I don't think it was as ubiquitous as the wording here makes it seem.

(Also learned of a family member who ate dirt as a young child, but this was despite the wishes of everyone around him ๐Ÿ˜‚)

[โ€“] Iconoclast@feddit.uk 20 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

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

[โ€“] antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 days ago

Potatoes naturally were toxic nightshade (all parts). To be domesticated they had to be eaten with clay, which absorbs the toxin. There are still some varieties eaten with clay.

[โ€“] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

My wife told me her mom used to eat a bit of dirt when pregnant.

[โ€“] probable_possum@leminal.space 18 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Monkeys on Gibraltar do it, too. To treat stomach aches when they ate unhealthy. There is an abundance of bad food for them which they steal from tourists.

Should you start eating dirt now? You shouldn't, scientists say. Germs.

[โ€“] Barley_Man@sopuli.xyz 13 points 2 days ago (8 children)

After cooking with high heat there should be no germs left. As stated in the article there are no health risks involved except if you eat such a large amount it blocks your intestines. Also even if you didn't cook it the germs that live in soil are not the same germs that make you sick, those you get from your fellow humans.

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[โ€“] Vanth@reddthat.com 10 points 2 days ago

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.

[โ€“] BagOfHeavyStones@piefed.social 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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

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[โ€“] maikuuuuuu@lemmy.zip 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

When I was a kid (sometime in the early 90s in Philadelphia) I remember something coming on the news about women eating dirt. I always thought about it and wondered โ€œwhy was that on the news..?โ€ (since I was a kid and wasnโ€™t paying attention), but now I know. This was an interesting read. Thanks for sharing

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When I did Ayahuasca, my mom's friend joked that I would eat dirt with his son during the peak of the high. I didn't do it but he actually did it. When asked about, he told me that it taste like glory.

[โ€“] 20cello@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (2 children)
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