Review: 'All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,' one of the year's great debuts, is a major work of art

The two girls we see patiently digging away at a Mississippi hillside in "All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt" are taking part in an age-old tradition, one that has long been passed down by Black women in the rural South. As they shake and sift, the girls isolate choice particles of clay-enriched earth to eat, a practice that ties them to a distant African ancestral past as well as the very ground beneath their feet.

There's wisdom in learning to embrace the delicacies of dirt: Open your eyes, your hands and your taste buds, the idea goes, and you might be surprised and even satisfied by what