Haiti's rising food prices drive poor to eat mud

Impoverished Haitians are increasingly resorting to eating biscuits made of mud as food prices soar in the Caribbean country.

The discs are made from dried yellow clay mixed with water, salt and vegetable shortening or margarine.

The mud, which comes from Haiti's central plateau region, is first strained and then shaped into biscuits which are left in the sun.



The pale brown biscuits, known by locals simply as "terre", have traditionally been eaten by pregnant Haitians and children as an antacid and source of calcium.

However, for some Haitians unable to afford even a plate of rice, terre has become their staple diet.

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