Today there are still people who eat 'clay dirt and starch'. And they are not all seniors. A lot of pregnant women crave it. This is the white powdered starch I am talking about. My mother loved 'red clay dirt'. And if it came from Mississippi, she considered it the best. In this day and age with all the chemicals they use in the soil I wouldn't think it would be healthy. But just think about this. Could that craving started because slaves added it to what little food they had for cooking purposes. Today which is worse--eating dirt or starch or using cocaine?.