Oddities on the News

Put this in the oddities bin. According to a little bit in the news this morning, one of the encounters of the culinary sort that you might have in Peru is something called chako (that has been transliterated into Japanese, and then to English by me, so . . . ). Apparently you are most likely to encounter this in eating the main staple - boiled potatoes.

So what is chako? Well, apparently it is dirt. Note, not just any dirt - there are chako diggers, and they go down a meter or more (one fellow seemed to be working a regular mine). It seemed to be a recognizable layer.

There was a local doctor interviewed, who says it is a healthy addition to the diet there (mostly potatoes). He said it contained kaolin (and looking it up, there is such a substance. Apparently used to be used to soothe upset stomaches, and as part of kaopectate, an anti-diarrhea medicine). Hum, that web page talks about China Clay - I wonder if that is what got twisted into chako?

Serving? Well, what they showed was mix with water, then dip your boiled potatoes in it. Kids were saying it is delicious, so I'm guessing it adds some flavor.

Edible dirt. Wasn't that one of the oddities that Heinlein pointed to in his Crazy Years news?