Can You Eat Your Crocs to Survive?

For some reason, this debate has been raging for a few years. Can you eat your Crocs if you had to?

The rubber shoes (who's inventor lives in Nashville, by the way) claim to be made from non-toxic material. So, theoretically, you could remove your shoes in a pinch, eat them, and not get sick. Now, because all Internet questions need an answer, a writer for Vice asked a dietician "Can you eat Crocs?"

And the answer is....well, it's probably not a good idea.

Photo: Getty Images

The urban legend started years ago, with a rumor that a camp counselor had boiled pieces of a Croc and fed it to children (which is an unlikely story that has never been corroborated). At the time, a rep for the company claimed that, despite the shoes' non-toxic material, there wouldn't be an nutritional value in eating the shoes.

Still, people have speculated on the ability to nourish yourself with Crocs in an extreme survival situation.

The material, called "Croslite," is made from 98% feedstock, which is a plant-based substance made from straw and a bunch of other natural materials. So, you could see why people would assume this is an edible product.

The writer asked a dietician, who told us what we really should already know - NO, you shouldn't eat your Crocs. The dietician says that there's no nutritional value in Crocs, and we probably don't have the right enzymes to break it down, which means eating your Crocs could lead to some pretty gnarly stomach issues.

If you must know, YES, people have actually tried this. In fact, a kid back in 2016 boiled pieces of his Crocs and ate them, then wrote about it for his school paper. No one has ever died from eating Crocs, so the non-toxic statement really could be true. But still, it's a bad idea to eat them. The writer of the school paper article says "If you're ever stranded on a deserted island with a friend and Crocs appear to be your only food source, take my advice -- eat your friend before you eat your Crocs."


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