Earth tasting workshop with masharu studio

Geophagy is the scientific name for the practice of eating earth and earth-like substances, such as clay and chalk. Eating earth is an ancient practice and is an integral part of many cultures across the world.

The Museum of Edible Earth, winner of Grand Prize at the YouFab Global Creative Awards 2021 held by FabCafe, is a cross-disciplinary project that has in its core a collection of earth samples, which are eaten for various reasons by different people across the globe. It invites the audience to physically question our relationship to the environment and the Earth, and to review our knowledge about food and cultural traditions using creative thinking. 

The Museum of Edible Earth addresses the following questions: What stands behind earth-eating traditions? Where does the edible earth come from? What are the possible benefits and dangers of eating earth? What engagement are we, as humans, establishing with our environment and non-humans?

As YouFab judge Asa Ito highlights, “through the ‘soil’ that is always and everywhere at our feet, this work extends our imagination beyond the human scale both in terms of time and space, not to mention human culture.”

The Museum of Edible Earth

The Museum of Edible Earth has more than 400 edible earth samples, mostly clay, such as for instance kaolin and bentonite, as well as chalk, limestone, volcanic rock, diatomaceous earth, and topsoil. The materials originate from 36 countries. Alongside the earth collection, the Museum of Edible Earth includes graphic design materials, photography and video works, online edible earth interactive database, installations and performances. It fosters collaborations with scientists, artists, designers, researchers and cultural communities. www.museumofedible.earth

In this Earth tasting workshop, masharu studio offers to facilitate the discovery of an old habit still practiced today through the tasting of edible soil samples from various countries.

Eating earth as a snack is a quite common practice in some countries like Ghana, Indonesia or Suriname. In these countries, the tradition of cooking earth still exists, earth can be bought on the cultural markets to be eaten as a snack. In the neighborhood of Château Rouge in Paris, France, one can easily buy a plastic bag of kaolin (white clay). Especially, women from the Western African community buy and eat it on the street or in the public transport like chips.

It will be an opportunity to share feedback on the symbolism of geophagy and the taste of these soils, as well as to engage in dialogues around food, cultural traditions and humankind’s relationship to the environment.

*Disclaimer: Eating earth is not recommended by food authorities and is at your own risk.