Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Haitians Turn to Mud Cakes to Fill Empty Bellies

Food price hikes push everything but dirt out of reach for Haiti's poor

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 29, 2008 6:08 AM CDT

(Newser) – Impoverished Haitians have been reduced to living off mud cakes, the Guardian reports. The cakes of clay and water—long eaten by poor pregnant women seeking calcium—are increasingly the only food many families can afford. The global fuel and food crisis has hit Haiti, and half the population is malnourished.

Haiti relies on imports for almost all of its food. In a country where two-thirds of the people live on less than a dollar a day, food price hikes have pushed an already poor population to the verge of starvation and rioting. "It stops the hunger," said one woman baking mud cakes to sell for 3 cents each. "You eat them when you have to."

People line-up to receive food from U.N. Brazilian peacekeepers in Cite-Soleil, Port-au-Prince, Tuesday, May 27, 2008.
People line-up to receive food from U.N. Brazilian peacekeepers in Cite-Soleil, Port-au-Prince, Tuesday, May 27, 2008.   (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
A family sits close to two large boats under construction at La Tortue island, Haiti, Monday, April 28, 2008.
A family sits close to two large boats under construction at La Tortue island, Haiti, Monday, April 28, 2008.   (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
A woman prepares mud cakes on a street in the Cite-Soleil slum of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.
A woman prepares mud cakes on a street in the Cite-Soleil slum of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.   (Getty Images)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Be the first to comment on this story.

More Newser Stories

Somalia Famine's Brutal Toll: 29K Kids Dead in 3 Months

Food Prices Will Double by 2030: Oxfam

N. Korea on Kim's Birthday: Let People Eat, Um, Nothing

Baptists Charged With Kidnapping Haitian Orphans

Centuries of Fault Stress Unleashed Haiti Hell


NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne