Why do the Kyrgyz (and not only) eat chalk and clay? (14 photos)

There are many people with strange eating habits. Someone loves eat borsch, eating it with eclair, someone manages to crush lemons, like apples, but someone eats very strange products, if they can be called that at all: for example, stones, chalk and clay.





And it's one thing when such "products" are eaten because of an urgent need (say, hunger) or due to changes in the body (pregnant women often eat chalk and limestone). But when eating stones or clay is a national feature and is done with pleasure, this is already strange ... Let's talk about this strangeness.



In the old days, eating clay or chalk was order of things in many nations. The Chukchi called clay "earthen fat", the inhabitants of Primorsky Krai called it "earth sour cream", and for Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, it was considered a real "gift of the earth." She was added to broths, prepared sweets from it and ate just like that, in a bite. So time, clay still left the diet of most peoples, but in In Kyrgyzstan, it is eaten to this day and is considered miraculous.



Today you can buy edible chalk and clay in any market. Kyrgyzstan. In the same Bishkek, there are whole counters littered with a variety of stone ... in the literal sense of the word. Here there is chalk and clay of different density and with different tastes: salty, "creamy", oily, dusty, soft, hard, "melt in your mouth" and even flavored pistachios. And what are the names worth: "Green Uzbek", "Astana yellow", "New Oskol", "Icicle", "Snowball", "White Mountain", "Vatutin" and many many others.



“Considered one of the most delicious”, “silk and tender”, “with wax aftertaste”, “good for the skin, against wrinkles”, “useful for expectant mothers" - what sellers of edible chalk and clay do not say, luring buyers. This is not surprising: hardly anyone in a sober mind voluntarily agree to eat clay?! Or chalk. It is clear that he different from what is used in schools and sold in stores stationery. There are no chemical impurities in natural chalk, such as gypsum and dyes used by manufacturers.



Everything is environmentally friendly and harmless, and it is this chalk eat, and at the same time sell the Kirghiz. Edible chalk and clay can be purchased both in crushed form and in large bars. By the way, such a "product" can also be obtained on the Internet. Kilogram of chalk will cost about 280 soms.



But why eat clay and chalk at all? The Kyrgyz believe that there is certainly a grain of truth in this, that these breeds are able to strengthen bones. There is a lot of calcium in chalk, and clay has a wide range of medicinal properties. properties. So, for example, purple Kyrgyz clay helps to get rid of from a headache. It sounds and, indeed, not bad, but it is important to remember that the gifts of nature, if slightly overdone with their use, may not be not only beneficial, but also harmful.



Excessive or excessive use of clay and chalk can cause serious health problems. Chalk, for example, settles in internal organs and on the walls of blood vessels, and an excess of carbonate calcium can cause kidney stones, sugar diabetes, pancreatitis and gastritis.



By the way, eating chalk, clay and other rocks is quite a common practice among other peoples, in addition to the Kyrgyz. And this process gives them pleasure, and some breeds even are a kind of delicacy. For example, in the equatorial America, in Colombia, Guiana and Venezuela, there are entire tribes that in all seriousness they eat the earth, although from hunger and lack of nutrients substances are not affected.



Negros from Senegal in their homeland eat greenish clay because of its pleasant taste, and the Papuans from the Humboldt Bay region also eat some rocks.



You maybe surprised, but eating clay turned out to be quite commonplace in Iran, where local bazaars, along with fresh fruits and vegetables, edible rocks are sold: clay from Magallata and clay from Giveh. Clay from Magallat is white, greasy to the touch, sticky to the tongue mass, to which local residents have a special love.



In Siberia, in the region of Okhotsk, the peoples living here have one time, a special dish was popular, the main ingredient of which was clay. According to the description of the famous traveler of the late 18th century Erika Laxman, this dish was prepared from a mixture of kaolin and reindeer milk and was considered a special delicacy, which was presented to the noble travelers.



The Italians, in the past, also had a dish under called "alika", which consisted of a mixture of wheat and tender marl. The latter, by the way, was mined in the Naples region and gave the dish a white color and softness.



Well, it turns out, and clay, and chalk, and other rocks very edible, and some are also useful. Well try whether they are or not is a personal matter for everyone.