Notes on Clay and Starch Eating Among Negroes in a Southern Urban Community

IRT eating or geophagy has been menD tioned in the anthropological literature and its existence has been reported from many parts of the world.' Although the South has been one of the areas in which dirt or clay eating has occurred, there is only one article in the recent scientific literature on dirt eating among Southern Negroes,2 but this article contains no mention of starch-eating. The existence of dirt and starch eating in North Carolina first came to the attention of the investigator through her work with Negro unmarried mothers.3 Many of these women spoke of having eaten dirt, while others were acquainted with this custom. All of them referred to it without embarrassment. Those who had eaten it agreed that "it tasted real good," if one had "good dirt," i.e. clay which is smooth and not gritty. A few women preferred laundry starch, while those who ate neither one justified their abstinence either by a dislike of the taste or by the fear of "dirt tumors" With this general information as a background, further interviews with members of the Negro community were sought in order to obtain additional understanding of this custom. Conversations with Negro nurses and social workers soon revealed the widespread existence of this custom. Clay, for instance, is sold in paper bags, ready for consumption, in at least one of the large tobacco factories. A bag of "good dirt," costing 15 to 25 cents, contains about four to six pieces of clay of about one to two inches in diameter. In the factory the older women are reported to eat clay more frequently than the younger ones, but many of these also indulge in the habit. There is no particular time during the life of a person when clay eating is started. Some are taught by their mothers, while others begin eating clay during pregnancy "because they get a craving for it." One woman started eating clay after having taken aspirin which to her "tasted like dirt"; knowing that many people in the neighiborhood ate dirt, she began nibbling it occasionally. The clay has to be of a particular quality found only in certain clay-banks. It is usually of a grey color, sometimes with a few reddish streaks. The investigator obtained samples of the clay sold in the factory, and of that found in a well-known clay bank in town. The samples were analysed by Dr. Berry, of the department of Geology, Duke University. He described the former sample as a yellowish grey kaoline-like clay which contains a little subanular quartz, coal fragments, and a. little ileminite. The other sample was described as grey clay which, however, was not essentially different from the first sample. The clay is usually not eaten at the clay bank, although there is some mention of people having eaten the clay at the "dirt-hole." Generally the clay is first baked in the oven to dry it thoroughly. When taken out of the oven, the clay is extremely hard, and has to be broken with a hard instrument. Pieces of this clay are occasionally nibbled on, but sometimes larger amounts are eaten at one time. The clay has a sour, acid-like taste which draws the mouth together. The feel of the clay in the mouth is rather dry, crunchy, and chalklike, and the smoother the clay or the less gritty the better it is liked. The relationship between starch and dirt eating is illustrated in the case of a grandmother, mother, and grandson. The grandmother has always eaten clay until a short time ago, while the mother ate clay mainly during her pregnancy. The small son now loves starch but he used to eat clay, which he no longer likes. One day he obtained a box of starch and ate it all. Clay and starch are not alike in taste. Starch has a sweet, flour-like taste; it is never gritty and leaves no. remnant in the mouth. Yet, it may be suggested that the "feel" of starch and clay in the mouth is quite similar. Both feel dry and somewhat crunchy. A Negro nurse observed that "starch is supposed to have a clean taste, while ' Berthold Laufer, Geophagy, (Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History-Anthropological Series, Vol. 18, No. 2, 1930. 2 Dorothy Dickins and Robert N. Ford, "Geophagy (Dirt Eating) among Mississippi Negro School Children," American Sociological Rezdew, 7 (1942), pp. 59-65. 3Hilda Hertz, Negro Illegitimacy in Durham, North Carolina (Durham, N. C.: M. A. thesis, Duke University, 1944). See also John Gillin, "Custom and Range of Human Responses," Character and Personality, 8 (1944), pp. 122-123.