New Scientist recommends sampling the Museum of Edible Earth in London
Try a sample at the Edible Earth Museum
David Parry/PA Media Assignments
Eating dirt (geophagy) is classified as a mental health problem by the American Psychiatric Association – unless it is part of a cultural practice.
We will be able to deepen this paradoxical relationship with the arrival of the Museum of Edible Earth at Somerset House in London (until April 26).
While visiting the exhibit, I found about 600 samples of soil commonly ingested around the world, collected by the museum’s founder, Masharu. There is red ocher from South Africa (a source of iron) and black nakumatt clay used by pregnant women in India to relieve nausea. Only two are officially available for tasting, as they are accredited dietary supplements in the UK.
Luvos Healing Earth, for digestive issues, is served like chocolate chips, but tastes more like the grain of unwashed leeks. I preferred Mexican diatomaceous earth, ground into a silky, slightly sour flour. But more than its taste, I liked imagining the aquatic organisms that fossilized on this earth millions of years ago.
Thomas Lewton,
Features Editor, London
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