Lithuania – LT001A
Composition: Mixed
Colour: Brown
Shape: Raw
A sandy texture and sour taste. Memories of childhood sensations and the smell of the earth after rain.
This earth was given to the collection of the Museum of Edible Earth by a Lithuanian woman named Stanislava Monstvilene. She claims to be living on a sandy earth diet for more than ten years. Miša Skalskis and masharu visited Stanislava in her house in Gomaliai village, Telšiai region, Lithuania in December 2018. The village has about 35 residents. In return for her earth, Stanislava received a few samples from the Museum of Edible Earth. She found the samples delicious.
Stanislava Monstvilene, 70 years old, claims she has been living for more than a decade consuming nothing but earth. According to her, the substance, known to be utterly indigestible, has not only made her healthier but has even cured her brain tumor.
“I had a late stage brain tumor. They said I wouldn’t last long,” Monstvilene told a news agency. “I was passing by and once an idea came to my mind – take the sand and eat it. For the first time I was choked but then I got used to it.”
“You should not mix it with food or water. You should not eat anything else, otherwise you will feel sick. And the water should not be drunk. I used to eat wet sandy earth, so after that I do not want to drink,” she said as well. Various types of sandy earth taste different, she claimed. “It can be sour or has no taste at all,” Monstvilene told Ruptly while chugging a handful of mashed rocks.
Source:
● ‘Sand-eating Lithuanian woman claims ‘mineral diet’ cured her brain tumour’, RT News, 12/01/2018 (English), accessed on 03/05/2022 www.rt.com
Photo by masharu
Earth of Stanislava
It tastes like glass and plays into my appetite for crashed ice
Bastante arenoso! Uma sensação bem diferente do convencional
Приветики
По вкусу она похожа на крупного помола песок. Когда ее пережевываешь, она слегка хрустит на зубах, но в этом весь и кайф!)) Не знаю, как для остальных.) Послевкусие такое как будто вдохнул пыли после дождя, это ощущение не перепутать ни с чем. Возникают ощущения из детства))). Приятно было вновь окунуться в эти ощущения и вкусы. Спасибо, большое, что открыли такую выставку! =)))
Песок на зубах – сомнительное удовольствие
Tasted of being outside as a kid. Reminds me of my childhood. As a kid I used to eat earth in the family garden. I didn’t like the sandy sensation. It reminds me of holidays in France. We used to play in the clay. I stopped chewing on it because I didn’t want to damage my teeth. It smells and tastes like rain. The smell matches a lot with the taste. It is linking to something which is very very artificial. What is nature and what is not? It reminded me a bit of chocolate. Makes me think of cutting through MDF
The feedback was collected during the during the Summer School in Hands-on Anthropology & Ethnographic Storytelling in 2021, curated by Younes Saramifar http://www.handsonanthropology.org
Additional feedback on the taste is available in the text by Daniel Boston: https://museumofedible.earth/earth/2181/
Yordan: This is how I remember eating sand. I like the texture. It didn’t have much of a taste.
Martina: It is more textured. I don’t like the crunch.
Sandy. Neutral. I don’t trust it. If I bite it hard, I will damage my teeth.
Dutch saying is “Zand schuurt de maag” – “Sand chafes the stomach”
(This saying is used when you eat something of sand structure or with sand)
It is not tasty, and also there are no words I can describe this taste with. No flavour. Reminds me getting sand into my mouth on school playground on windy days.
This one is really sandy, I can’t quite taste describe a taste
Gritty
Sandy
Dry
This is the bad note
Life is bitter
It reminds me of cucumber, I like this one
Rotten vegetables
Knorr bullion
Smell of incense
Don’t taste anything, just sand
It is like a sand you get as a kid, when you play, and you get it into your mouth. I remember my childhood. Accidentally eating sand when you play in sand box, and fall over. Doesn’t taste. It is tasteless. The textures is very sandy. It can grind teeth. It is not as absorbent. It doesn’t spread through the mouth, it stays on the toungue