food cravings

What a fantastically interesting topic! No, I have never had an urge to eat dirt, worms, faeces or anything like that. I do, from time to time, feel the need to eat very sweet things or very salty things. When I do get that urge, I recognise it as unusual in me and have always assumed that it was because my body was trying to tell me something (but that I didn't necessarily interpret the message correctly). I have also enjoyed the taste and texture of many odd things (putty for the linseed oil, I suppose; rubber; petrol/gas - but only the smell of it; Puppies very commonly eat their mother's or other dogs' faeces. This is quite natural (though often disgusting to their human proteges) and serves to populate their stomachs with the right bacteria, so I understand. I wonder if such aberrations in humans as coprophilia are the same sort of urge gone wrong, so to speak. An interesting theory: could we wean human children quicker if we included some of our sh*t in their diet? Probably not, since nothing like that exists in any culture that I know of. As I say, a fantastically interesting topic (especially as I am very attracted to magpies, anyway!)