I grew up in the South...never heard of this until today, reading your post...interesting though.
The American South Is Still Eating White Dirt https://munchies.vice.com/en/articles/the-american-south-is-still-eating-white-dirt
(....but I knew the comments would be about dirt-eating people).
Leni
Emmett Tyrell is always worth reading.
Is he sure they eat only dirt?
Or is it part of a balanced diet along with other sources of nutrition?
Or does he mean people who "only eat dirt" as opposed to whatever it is that he does with it?
Tyrell was pretty funny thirty years ago, but isn't it time he moved on to something new?
bmfl