You need to soak them first. There was a guy who just tossing them on his salad and after some time he became super ill, he couldn't eat anythin without throwing it up. They did an Endoscopy on him and he had a big big massive ball of chia seeds stucked in his esophagus blocking food from entering his stomach. Chia seeds would absorb a big amount of liquids and if you don't soak them first, it's the liquid inside your mucouse membranes that they will absorb and get stuck there.