My birthplace and childhood home is the seaside city of Dar-es-Salaam, which is located in Tanzania, East Africa. It’s a city rich both culturally and economically. This gave the opportunity to experience different aspects of the world while growing up. A brief history of Dar-es salaam before I talk about soil eating; it was considered to be a part of the Swahili Coast, which was a civilization that came to flourishment in the first millennium after the Common Era (Bita et al, 2022). As a result of assertions that it had connections with the Roman world as a trade route connecting Roman Empire and Asia (Beaujard, 2010). Additionally, Dar-es-salaam is a port city and because of this, numerous individuals from inner regions and those from far lands made it their home and perhaps soil eating tradition came to Dar-es-salaam through migration.
In a local market of the city, or “Genge”, they sold red soil called “pemba” as a snack. This soil is usually hard as rock, and it’s made in block shape. I don’t know how it is prepared but soon as you bite the rock it starts to melt in your mouth and this earthy aroma of rusted iron takes over. I grew up eating this soil not regularly but at least once a month. I found it very tasty. Pregnant women were the biggest buyers of the soil, and thus it became an indicator of being pregnant. When I went to buy soil in the market, the trader asked: “Are you pregnant?” One day I asked my mom why pregnant women eat soil, and she told me that it makes them and the baby strong due to its high level of iron and calcium. I took my mom’s word for it, and my love for soil eating grew. In 2020, I moved to the Netherlands, where I initially struggled to find red soil until I came across the Museum of Edible Earth through an online search. The museum is based in Amsterdam, which is not too far from my school premises. I reached out and was able to contact the owner who introduced me to many different edible soils from across the globe. At first I thought there must be an historical connection for all these places that practice this tradition. May be in the future I can work on preparing an ethnographic study of soil eating cultures because there not many available in academia. I wholeheartedly suggest to anyone to try soil eating practices at least once. Not only does it make me feel good, it also uplifts my energy and vibration.
BEAUJARD, P. (2010). From Three Possible Iron-Age World-Systems to a Single Afro-Eurasian World-System. Journal of World History, 21(1), 1–43. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20752924
Bita et al., (2022). Sociocultural and economic aspects of the ancient Roman reported metropolis of Rhapta on the coast of Tanzania: Some Archaeological and historical perspectives, International Journal of Environment and Geoinformatics (IJEGEO), 10(1):028–040, doi. 10.30897/ijegeo.1119368
