INDIA, December 28, 2015 (Smithsonian): FThe Associated Press reports, patties made of dried cow dung and hay has become an internet sensation for nostalgic shoppers, who use the fragrant cakes for fuel and in ritual fires. The Associated Press writes that cow dung cakes are selling out on websites like Amazon [e.g., www.amazon.com/Big-Indian-Store-Cow-Dung/dp/B0130LVIKQm where one six-inch patty sells for $6.50 plus shipping].
The cakes appear to be selling mainly to urban areas that do not have a ready supply of cow dung, with demand spiking around traditional festivals such as Diwali in November or the upcoming Lohri in January. A spokesperson for Amazon India tells the Associated Press that “people who grew up in rural areas find the peaty smell of dung fires pleasant” and nostalgic.
India has a massive bovine population–nearly 300 million as of 2012. All those cows produce a lot of poop, which is then used as both fertilizer and fuel. Chris Copp writes for Full Stop India that dung is “a commodity so intertwined with daily survival that it is nearly impossible to think of life without it.” India is thought to use as much as 400 million tons of cow dung for cooking fuel alone each year, with approximately 30 percent of rural fuel production dependent on animal waste.