Dirty Snacks a Treat in Indonesia

Fifty-three-year-old Rasima collects dirt everyday from a paddy field in Indonesia's east Java province, turning it into a snack made entirely from soil, called "ampo."

She scoops handfuls of the dirt into her basket and then takes it back home for baking the traditional earthy snack.

[Rasima, Ampo Maker]:
"Ampo making has become a family tradition in the village, and I do not know exactly when it started. All I know is that it was made by my great-grandmother and it was continued by my grandmother, then my mother and now I continue to make it."

Rasima pounds the soil into a hard lump and scrapes off rolls of dirt, using a bamboo-shaped dagger.

The snacks are then baked in a large clay pot over an open fire for around half an hour, then taken to market, where consumers say they like the cool, creamy texture.

[Siti Qomariah, Local Resident]:
"I think the taste is nice and I usually eat this. It is nothing special; it feels cold in my stomach."

Locals believe the soil snacks are an effective painkiller, while pregnant women dine on it, believing it refines the skin of their unborn baby.