I was born in a Hindu family in India, and grew up on stories of Krishna, one of the millions of deities from the religion. One of the stories involve baby Krishna getting caught eating mud by his mother. She is naturally concerned and makes him open his mouth to check. As he does, she sees in there the entire universe—planets, galaxies, and even various dimensions. Overwhelmed, she faints.
In 2021, I came across a Museum of Edible Earth exhibit at the World Soil Museum in Wageningen, The Netherlands. I was intrigued and skeptical. “This has got to be a gimmick,” I thought. I went back and read up on geophagy, and was fascinated. In the process, I was also reminded of stories of me eating mud as a toddler (I do not personally remember doing that myself).
I contacted masharu, founder of the Museum of Edible Earth, and asked if they would be interested in doing an interview as part of a short video on geophagy (I like to capture stories that intrigue me on video). I also interviewed Stephan Mantel, a soil scientist and director of World Soil Museum.
From masharu, I learnt that eating soil is widespread, found in cultures across the length and breadth of the earth. It was particularly fascinating to learn that edible soil could be found very close to home—in supermarkets here in The Netherlands. Stephan assured me that geophagy is not some primitive cultural practice to scoff or smirk at—it has scientific basis. “Certain kind of soil from certain places, when eaten by people with certain physiological makeups, can provide certain benefits,” he said, while cautioning that people should not just go around eating all kinds of soil.
While working on the geophagy story, I could not help but think back to the tale of the earth-eating baby Krishna, and the less miraculous accounts of the earth-eating baby-me. They tell the Krishna story as one that reveals his divinity. I think that the story highlighted in equal measure the humanity of his human incarnation—a god born as a human pining for soil the way some humans are known to do. At a less spiritual level, the story was also a reminder that some humans are known to hanker for soil for a long, long time. By doing the interview and editing the video, I immersed myself in a fascinating story with cultural and scientific dimensions, and came out much enriched. And isn’t that what living is?
Video made by Abraham can be found on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAvp64LV7_w
