In some of Haiti's most economically vulnerable communities, there is a food-like object that has become one of the world's most striking symbols of extreme poverty.
It looks a little like a small biscuit.
It is shaped by hand, flattened into a thin disc and placed under the Caribbean sun until it becomes dry and firm.
But it is not made primarily from flour, cornmeal, rice or any of the ingredients most people would associate with a meal.
It is made largely from clay.
Known in Haitian Creole as bonbon tè — literally "earth cookies" — these discs have attracted international attention for years. Images of women preparing rows of them under the sun have often appeared in reports about poverty and hunger in Haiti.
The reality behind them, however, deserves more explanation than the shocking phrase "people eating dirt."
Eating clay, a practice known as geophagy, has existed in different cultures around the world and is not unique to Haiti. In some circumstances, clay has traditionally been consumed because people believe it can help with digestive discomfort or provide minerals.
But Haiti's earth cookies have also become associated with something far more troubling: periods when severe poverty and high food prices leave some households struggling to afford enough conventional food.
For people who have never experienced extreme hunger, the idea is almost impossible to comprehend.
What happens when the food available in the market is food you simply cannot afford?
What happens when a family's income disappears but hunger does not?
And what happens when filling an empty stomach becomes more urgent than asking whether what you are eating qualifies as food?
Those questions help explain why bonbon tè became such a powerful image of hardship in Haiti.
What Exactly Are Haiti's Earth Cookies?
The basic preparation is strikingly simple.
Clay or soil is mixed with ingredients that may include water, salt and some form of fat, such as vegetable oil or shortening. The mixture is kneaded into a workable consistency, divided into portions and flattened into small round discs.
They are then laid outside to dry in the sun.
The result resembles a rough cookie or cracker.
But appearances are misleading.
A conventional biscuit contains ingredients that can supply carbohydrates, fats, protein and calories. A clay-based disc does not offer a nutritionally comparable substitute for a real meal.
That distinction is crucial.
The fact that something can be swallowed does not mean that it can adequately nourish the human body.
Human beings require energy as well as essential nutrients, including protein, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. When people repeatedly consume inadequate diets, the consequences can include malnutrition, weakness, impaired immunity and other health problems.
Earth cookies cannot solve the underlying problem of hunger.
At most, they may temporarily give a sensation of having something in the stomach.
And that is what makes their association with poverty so disturbing.
The Story Is More Complicated Than "Haitians Eat Dirt"
Stories about Haiti sometimes reduce the issue to a shocking headline:
"People in Haiti eat mud."
That framing may attract attention, but it can also strip away important context.
First, Haiti is a country of millions of people with a rich culinary culture. Haitian cuisine includes rice, beans, plantains, corn, vegetables, meat, seafood and many distinctive regional dishes.
Earth cookies are not a normal replacement for food across Haitian society.
Second, geophagy — deliberately consuming earth, soil or clay — is not uniquely Haitian.
Researchers have documented versions of the practice in many parts of Africa, Asia, the Americas and elsewhere.
Scientific literature describes geophagy as a complex behavior with cultural, nutritional and medical dimensions. Some people have historically consumed particular clays because of beliefs about digestive relief, pregnancy symptoms or mineral supplementation.
Researchers continue to debate some of the reasons humans practice geophagy and whether certain clays may provide specific effects.
But those traditional practices should not be confused with eating clay because conventional food has become unaffordable.
The distinction matters enormously.
One is a cultural or individual practice.
The other can be a coping mechanism associated with deprivation.
In Haiti, the international attention surrounding bonbon tè has largely focused on that second reality.