Craving Earth: Understanding Pica--the Urge to Eat Clay, Starch, Ice, and Chalk
Sera Young
Abstract
This book provides a portrait of pica, or non-food cravings, from earliest times to current times. It explains how humans have eaten earth, on purpose, for more than 2,300 years and that people also crave starch, ice, chalk, and other unorthodox items of food. It details how some individuals even claim they are addicted and “go crazy” without these items, and asks “why?” The book draws upon extensive historical, ethnographic, and biomedical findings and describes the substances most frequently consumed and the many methods (including the Internet) used to obtain them. It reveals how pica is re ... More
This book provides a portrait of pica, or non-food cravings, from earliest times to current times. It explains how humans have eaten earth, on purpose, for more than 2,300 years and that people also crave starch, ice, chalk, and other unorthodox items of food. It details how some individuals even claim they are addicted and “go crazy” without these items, and asks “why?” The book draws upon extensive historical, ethnographic, and biomedical findings and describes the substances most frequently consumed and the many methods (including the Internet) used to obtain them. It 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 of eating it. It evaluates the many hypotheses about the causes of pica, from the fantastical to the scientific, including hunger, nutritional deficiencies, and pica's potential protective capacities. It combines history with intimate case studies to illuminate an enigmatic behaviour deeply entwined with human biology and culture.
Keywords:
pica,
non-food cravings,
earth,
starch,
ice,
chalk,
unorthodox food items
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2012 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780231146098 |
| Published to Columbia Scholarship Online: November 2015 |
DOI:10.7312/columbia/9780231146098.001.0001 |
