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John

Ground woodlice are mentioned in at least one medieval medical text as being used for indigestion. They are also known as pill beetles, presumably because of their habit of rolling into a ball, and perhaps one could also swallow them whole, therefore I suspect the connection is a sort of sympathetic magic thing, and it is possible that they did sort of work if the composition of woodlice bodies includes something like bicarbonate of soda.

So yes - people did eat woodlice :o