It has been quite a while since I saw a documentary on Russian peasants. The main thing that stands out from that show is that the village would go to one particular location and gather dirt. This wasn’t any old dirt, but one high in mineral content, and they would eat it. Hmm, I thought, I used to eat dirt as a kid. Maybe I was doing it to improve my health and get the necessary minerals.
As a child, I found that on windy days the sand would get in the air and some of it got into my mouth. I always seemed to like the texture of the gritty dirt and even the taste. It never bothered me on those windy days or even when playing in the sand because it always came as a tasty surprise.
One day, remembering that I liked the taste of dirt and I hadn’t had it in a while, I intentionally grabbed some dirt and ate it.
Bad idea.
Dirt actually tasted like dirt. There is a big difference between what accidentally winded up in my mouth from the wind and what I grabbed from the ground. It was the last time I enjoyed dirt in any form.
Then recently on our way home from Chicago, we popped into Rocket Fizz. This novelty store sells novelty drinks, including dirt-flavoured pop. I had to try it for nostalgic reasons. Maybe I will fall in love with dirt again.
Dirt is best served warm. All my feastings of dirt happened in the warmth of summer, plus who wants to eat cold dirt?
Gross!
I made sure my dirt pop was at a nice warm temperature before consuming it to relive my favourite childhood memory.
And to my great delight, Dirt Soda was as good as I had hoped. It really went well with the pizza we were having for supper. I enjoyed it to the very last drop and wished I had more. I would describe it as earthy (after all it is dirt) with hints of peat moss and plant debris. This liquid form of what I used to consume as a kid was pleasing and refreshing.
I would get it again.
Even though I loved this rediscovery of dirt, I doubt I will go out and grab a mouthful the next time I have a craving. I have been thinking about dirt a lot and wonder if the reason why it tasted so good as a child was because we lived on a farm with cows and chickens.
- I had grass soda. I loved it!
- We visited Rocket Fizz twice. It is located in Kalamazoo, MI and is part of two trips, Being Blown Away By The Mob and Blown Away By Christmas.
- There is a large selection of flavours, but one might think the price is on the expensive side.
- Check out All The Places We Have Been to this location and many others that may be close to your home.
