A morbid craving for starch, a specific form of pica in which sufferers compulsively eat raw starch, laundry starch, or other concentrated starch products. It appears most often in iron-deficiency anemia and in pregnancy, where the craving may represent a distorted appetite signal rather than any genuine nutritional need, since raw starch supplies calories but displaces more nutritious food and can impair iron absorption further. Consuming large amounts of laundry starch adds the additional hazard of non-food chemicals. Like other pica behaviors, the craving often resolves when the underlying iron deficiency is corrected, strengthening the link between mineral status and aberrant appetite. Clinicians ask about such cravings because patients rarely volunteer them, yet they offer a valuable diagnostic clue hiding in plain sight.