Who needs a barbecue?

NAKHON NAYOK: Many people love the taste of charcoal-grilled food, but a young woman in Nakhon Nayok has taken her love for charcoal one step further – bypassing the food and eating the charcoal instead. In Tambon Pakplea, a 26-year-old widow, Urai Setsuriya, carries a bag of the black carbon sticks with her wherever she goes, sometimes munching up to a kilogram a day. K. Urai said she first felt the urge to eat charcoal when she was 19 and she became pregnant. She was attracted to its nice smell, she said. And she has been eating it ever since, telling a reporter that she just can’t resist the the delicious combination of oil and saltiness of the popular fuel source. Pakplea Hospital Director Dr Samarn Fonfug said that eating pure charcoal is not harmful or beneficial. But he did not recommend that people follow K. Urai’s example because charcoal could easily become contaminated with dirt or poisonous chemicals, which could “react with the body”.