Balanced Diets

Tags:: appetite,; food,; medicine,; obsession,; religion,; risk,; taste,; women

As the distribution of pica across time and place and species makes itself ever more clear, we will surely learn this story is even richer, the culture practices subtler, the mineral commerce more complex. In some ways, our changing explanations of pica tell us more about the scientists and explorers than the very earth eaters they set out to describe. For now many mysteries remain, like how particular mineral deficiencies metamorphose into desire or along what channels of the mind such cravings sail. At the most, the story suggests an instinct within all of us, ready to emerge when famine strikes. At the very least, the tale—whispered by wolves and lovesick girls, discovered by a lonely anthropologist on the sweet breath of an Indian queen—suggests new views of who we are and what we eat.

Image: Charles Laughton in a scene from The Private Life of Henry VIII, directed by Akexander Korda, 1933. © Kobal

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Comments Post a Comment »

Hello, you misused "beg the question" in the first section. You meant "raise the question."

Posted by Kyle on Thu 23 Jun 2011
Thank you, Kyle. I could not infer the meaning of this line, despite the fact that "beg the question" is almost always used and understood in the informal sense. Moreover, proper grammar in this one instance is critical to my understanding the content of the article as a whole. Without your insight, the article was all Chinese characters and Wingdings to me.

Without persnickety linguistic prescription, we'd all speak in Jabberwocky. Imagine that! Your know-it-all is truly a service to English speakers everywhere.

By the way, great article!

Posted by Fayknaim on Thu 23 Jun 2011
In reply to Fayknaim, I'm sorry your pedantry almost stood in the way of your comprehending this superb article.

Of course, you didn't mean it literally. You didn't mean that you didn't understand the phrase; you understood it well enough. You just wanted to make your pedantry explicit and public, even if under a fayk naim. Thanks for that, I'm sure, we're all very impressed.

Posted by David on Sat 25 Jun 2011
Aw, c'mon David. I enjoyed Fayknaim's post

Posted by jj on Sun 26 Jun 2011
Thanks for this nice bit of work. No clay was required to enjoy or digest it. ;^)

hiho

Posted by Mark on Sun 26 Jun 2011
Would people who have have an inordinate need to eat antacids be said to have pica? I had a roommate in college who consumed more Tums than could possibly have been medically necessary.

Posted by Dax on Tue 26 Jul 2011
In researching my book on alcoholism I came across a report h suggesting that many alcoholics were "pica babies", i.e., they ate strange stuff as kids.

Posted by JamesG on Fri 29 Jul 2011
Very interesting article. I recently have begun studying Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine). Ayurveda has a long history of eating clay for detoxification as the clay is believed to leach heavy metals out of the body.

It seems that we Westerners still have plenty to learn from ancient and traditional practices.

Posted by Katharine on Tue 23 Aug 2011

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Food

About the Author

Daniel Mason is the author of The Piano Tuner and A Far Country, both published by Vintage. His last essay for Lapham’s Quarterly appeared in the Fall 2010 issue, The City.

American table manners are, if anything, a more advanced form of civilized behavior than the Europeans, because they are more complicated and further removed from the practical result, always a sign of refinement.