July 29, 2008...1:14 am

Haiti: Mud cakes become staple diet as cost of food soars beyond a family’s reach

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With little cash and import prices rocketing half the population faces starvation

Rory Caroll in Port au Prince – The Guardian – Tuesday 29 July, 2008

At first sight the business resembles a thriving pottery. In a dusty courtyard women mould clay and water into hundreds of little platters and lay them out to harden under the Caribbean sun.

The craftsmanship is rough and the finished products are uneven. But customers do not object. This is Cité Soleil, Haiti’s most notorious slum, and these platters are not to hold food. They are food.

Brittle and gritty – and as revolting as they sound – these are “mud cakes”. For years they have been consumed by impoverished pregnant women seeking calcium, a risky and medically unproven supplement, but now the cakes have become a staple for entire families. . .

. . . read complete article . . .
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