Dirt cookies instead of air
sandwiches.
by Hrywna, Mark
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
They're not supposed to taste good. After all, they're
called dirt cookies. Bright Hope International, based outside Chicago in
Hoffman Estates, Ill., is selling "dirt cookies" as a symbol
of poverty around the world. The nonprofit offers a package of six
cookies for a donation--of any size--but stresses that $50 can provide a
Haitian family of six with food for a month and the ability to plant
their own garden.
"Eat dirt so they don't have to," the Web site
proclaims.
Food shortages and escalating prices have made the poor in Haiti so
desperate they eat the dirt cookies, made of clay, to alleviate hunger
pains. Bright Hope's dirt cookies are 100 percent edible but
they're not sold for the taste as much as for raising money and
spreading awareness. With ingredients like shortening, salt, coffee,
buckwheat flour, teff (an Ethiopian grain), cocoa powder, corn starch
and terramin clay, the cookies won't tempt your palate, but they
will give you a good idea of what poor people in places like Haiti have
resorted to eating.
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NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.