Weird Haitian Earthly “Bon Bon De Terres”

The photo below is not the “bon bon de terres” mentioned in the title. The cookies are also called bonbons but these are actually sweet tasting cookies with nutritional value. These "sweet bonbons" are baked cookies.

Haiti is one of the countries in the world where poverty is extremely widespread and because of this very reason that poor families turn to cooking clay as primary food source. This country is actually has the poorest economy in the Western Hemisphere.

This bizarre foods which are sun dried look like pancakes or cookies. Its preparation is very simple and no cooking needed.

Ingredients:

• Clay mud
• Vegetable shortening
• Salt
• Sugar

Procedure:

• In a bowl, simply mix all the ingredients.
• Create balls as large as ping-pong ball from the mixture
• Flatten them to give the appearance of cookies
• Dry them under the heat of the sun for 3-4 hours and presto you now have “bon bon de terres”.

Although these cookies have no nutritional value at all, these are sold throughout the poorest areas of Haiti.  Consumption of these weird foods can result in many health problems too.

Image Source 

Anyway, if you are fond of eating clay, you should have Red-and-Green Macaws pet bird because they are also known to eat such thing. You have a colorful pet bird and at the same time you share the same food. This practice of eating clay is called Geophagia.

See also

Weird and Bizarre Eating-Related Behaviors, Habits, Beliefs and Other Traditions