This post is a sad one, really. “Haitian Mud Biscuits” are a harsh reality, and they are exactly what the name implies. In a world where there should be (and is!) enough food for everyone to eat well, many Haitians are living in such poverty and squalid conditions that they are literally eating dirt.
Photo Credited to Creative Commons
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Haitian Waste Dump (Photo Attributed to Author: Rémi Kaupp)
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. And visitors to the shanty towns of Haiti who come from “lands of plenty” will be shocked at what they find commonplace in the local markets. A dingy yellow colored, round “food” product, about the size of a breakfast pancake. It is breakfast, lunch, and dinner for many people here, who must actually eat dirt in order to not starve to death.
They’re Haitian mud biscuits, made from clay, with some salt, vegetable oil and water. Eating one will ward off the hunger pains for 2 or 3 hours. Food prices are soaring in Haiti, while wages are static or falling. Haiti is at the desperate whip end of a food crisis that stretches around the planet. Therefore the market for these mud cakes is booming.
As a tragic result? The people are now making meager incomes producing, and also eating, as a staple diet …
Haitian Mud Biscuits
The following is some background on this horrid state of affairs, how it has come to be, and even a “how-to” segment if you are interested in making some Haitian mud biscuits to see for yourself just how destitute someone would need to be to take them as their daily sustenance.