How To Make Mud Cookies

MorungExpress:

Mud cookies are all the rage in Haiti today. The ‘rage’ in this case, though, has been sparked by soaring food prices. The cookies have become a staple in poor households across the country because food is simply unaffordable. Everyone, it seems, is dying to get their hands on the biscuits. The cookies are easy to make: the main ingredient, an ‘edible’ clay from the country’s central plateau region, is abundant, and salt and vegetable shortening are added in quantities that vary according to affordability. The cookies can be left out in the sun to bake. Besides being filling, they are dirt cheap.

At least they have been up until now. The clay used to make the cookies is rapidly going up in price due to increasing demand. It now costs about $5 to make 100 cookies, putting even the cookies out of reach of many poor Haitians. While it may seem that Haitians have reached rock bottom, they may, in fact, be sitting on a gold mine. Through the alchemy of comparative advantage, their sludge-filled biscuits could become their most valuable commodity, propel the country into the ranks of rich nations and even provide a lasting solution to world hunger. After all, the logic of shifting more resources into the production of these biscuits is as ‘impeccable’ as Lawrence Summers’ proposal to encourage more migration of dirty industries from rich to poor countries.

Think of it. Clever marketers could label the exported cookies ‘organic’ and ‘low-cal.’ Ads could make comparisons with Twinkies in terms of nutritive value without violating any truth-in-advertising regulations. Bakeries could diversify their offerings: mud pastries, mud quiches, mud scones, and so on. Franchising could be hugely lucrative. Soon, door-to-door deliveries of dough-deficient donuts could displace Dunkin’ Donuts’ delicacies. To steal market share from the famous franchise, they could mimic the chain’s name by calling their outlets ‘Muckin Donuts.’ Sales experts from MacDonald’s could be brought in to coach vendors on the correct way of saying, ‘Would you like flies with that?’ Full article.