Craving Earth: Understanding Pica―the Urge to Eat Clay, Starch, Ice, and Chalk

by Sera L. Young

Humans have eaten earth, on purpose, for more than 2,300 years. They also crave starch, ice, chalk, and other unorthodox items of food. Some even claim they are addicted and "go crazy" without these items, but why?

Sifting through extensive historical, ethnographic, and biomedical findings, Sera L. Young creates a portrait of pica, or nonfood cravings, from humans' earliest ingestions to current trends and practices. In engaging detail, she describes the substances most frequently consumed and the many methods (including the Internet) used to obtain them. She reveals how pica is remarkably prevalent (it occurs in nearly every human culture and throughout the animal kingdom), identifies its most avid partakers (pregnant women and young children), and describes the potentially healthful and harmful effects. She evaluates the many hypotheses about the causes of pica, from the fantastical to the scientific, including hunger, nutritional deficiencies, and protective capacities. Never has a book examined pica so thoroughly or accessibly, merging absorbing history with intimate case studies to illuminate an enigmatic behavior deeply entwined with human biology and culture.

Genres: Nonfiction, Anthropology, Food, History

240 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 2010

Reviews

[Elizabeth G · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only became interested in learning about pica and what it exactly is after reading a short Q&A about it in Popular Mechanics a few months ago. I began searching for a book on pica which was rated well and Craving Earth is what I found. It was really easy to understand and read. I would recommend it to anyone who is doing a project or paper related to pica or is just interested in learning more about it.

[Allie Wist es · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fascinating topic, and impressively thorough. A good resource for practically understanding the topic. But the perspective doesn’t consider more contemporary lenses of Posthumanism, disability studies, etc, so it has its limits in tradition medical anthropology.

[Michael Bentley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr Young provided an interesting overview with excellent historical references and balanced assessments. Geophagy in particular is likely to find more potential medical insights in the years to come and Craving Dirt includes a bibliography that will serve future researchers well.

[Laura Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent examination of the universal human phenomenon of pica: eating non-food items, such as earth, chalk, starch, or clay. Dispels myths about why people practice pica. She concludes that people (especially pregnant women and small children) ingest specific non-food substances to protect against bacteria and other toxins while their immune systems are most vulnerable. The pica substances adhere to the intestinal wall, bind to toxins, and flush them out as solid waste. Brilliant!

[Joan Embola · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a great help to me for my extended project about the pica disorder. Pica is a very common disorder but many people are ignorant of it. This book gives you a wider view of this disorder and will help answer so many questions. I would greatly recommend it to anyone who is interested in Pica.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for a seminar class this semester and loved it, but bear in mind expectations. I was expecting a boring textbook and this definitely wasn't it with its excellent examples, easy to follow chapters, and interesting content.