We get to revisit insect as food culture. Here
we get a serious glimpse of just how large it already is and its real
commercial potential. Obviously an
ingredient that tastes like egg yolks can be worked up into some sophisticated
fare as time progresses. The usual
problems are mentioned but then those are problems farmers are past masters at
resolving.
Once a managed market is established, the
growers will fill the supply the trees quickly.
These are protein sources that have excellent potential
for market expansion. The sheer
convenience of harvesting is obvious.
Anything that knocks a nut out of a tree will bring down caterpillars
and nets make it easy.
As we discovered a long time ago, if you see a
person enjoying a delicacy, then trying it is easy.
Food Security Can Come in Tiny, Wiggly Packages
Lusaka -
It is known as the land of copper to the outside world, but there’s another
c-word that does a roaring trade in Zambia, albeit locally – caterpillars.
On a street corner in
the capital Lusaka on a scorching hot day, Dorothy Chisa, 49, is selling the
insects, a popular high-protein delicacy in the southern African country. They
come raw in different sized pots starting at five Zambian Kwacha (less than one
dollar).
"They come from
other countries like Malawi, Zimbabwe, even South Africa to buy [the
caterpillars]." -- Chris Siame
“[People] like them very
much. They taste very nice, like fish meat. They have vitamins. You pound them
and you make a porridge for babies,” the married mother of seven, who can earn
600 Kwacha a day selling caterpillars, tells IPS.
Found on the Mopane tree
in Zambia’s north, the insects are called ‘Ifishimu’ in Bemba or ‘Ifinkubala’
in the Chewa language heard in the country’s east. The thorns on the black type
are more visible than the brown, which vary in size.
After locals pick the
living insects from the trees with their bare hands, the creatures are squeezed
to discharge the leaves they’ve consumed and put on low heat to roast. In the
sweltering Zambian weather, they normally dry within two days.
Locals mix them with
nshima, a cornmeal dish and a staple in Zambia, as a snack with tomato and
onion on top, and add them to stews. One Lusaka restaurant serves the insects,
and at least one safari lodge at Victoria Falls, on the border with Zimbabwe,
has them available to tempt mzungus (‘whites’).
Locals flock to the
north from Lusaka and other parts of Zambia to buy them in bulk, selling the
caterpillars across the country, all year round. This year, attendance in
Northern Province schools dropped by more than 70 percent at one stage as
students abandoned their lessons to catch the insects, a Zambian newspaper
reported last month.
Demand by businessmen
and women from urban areas is reported to have pushed up their price, with
Kitwe and Lusaka residents camping in villages to snap them up. It was also
claimed parents were forcing children to sell caterpillars.
According to a study
published in May by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO),
entomophagy – the consumption of insects by humans – supplement the diets of
approximately two billion people.
More than 1,900 species,
found mostly in tropical countries, are edible. Given their high nutritional
value, low emissions of greenhouse gases, low requirements for land and the
high efficiency at which they convert feed into food, insects can contribute to
food security and help with protein shortages, the report said.
In West Africa, the
sheanut caterpillar is consumed, while the sapelli is lapped up in Central
Africa (the species are the same as the Mopane but they feed off different
trees).
“After buying from us
they distribute in other provinces,” Chris Siame, surrounded by tall bags of
caterpillars he bought in October and is now selling at bustling Soweto Market
in Lusaka, tells IPS. “Some, they come from other countries like Malawi,
Zimbabwe, even South Africa to buy them.”
In South Africa, the
caterpillars are on the menu of one Johannesburg restaurant.
Siame, 32, makes the
journey of about 900 km to the north annually for three weeks to buy the
insects.
“We use the barter
system. You give them [traders] clothes,” he explains. “If they don’t want it,
you just give them cash.”
He purchased two-kg bags
of caterpillars for 40 Kwacha (less than a dollar) each. After trucking them
back to Lusaka he’s now selling them for 60 Kwacha a bag.
“They taste like an egg
yolk. I like them so much,” Siame says.
Their nutritional value
is a bonus. According to the FAO, every 100 grammes of dried caterpillars
contain about 53 grammes of protein, about 15 percent fat and about 17 percent
carbohydrates. The insects are believed to have a higher proportion of protein
and fat than beef and fish.
They’re also rich in
potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus and iron, among other vitamins
and minerals.
“When we go for
antenatals, we’re advised to eat them,” another seller, breastfeeding a baby at
Soweto Market, tells IPS.
Dr. Francis Mupeta, the
secretary general of Resident Doctors in Zambia, says he sees locals eating
caterpillars in his professional and personal life.
“My wife is pregnant and
trust me she has cravings for finkubala! That’s the reason we had to buy three
months’ stock,” he tells IPS.
“I strongly advise
pregnant women to eat finkubala. They improve their appetite, reduce nausea and
contribute to their overall nutritional status,” Mupeta adds, noting that they
are relatively cheap and readily available in rural areas.
Paul Vantomme, senior
forestry officer at FAO, says there are three steps policy makers in Zambia’s
food and health sectors can take to ensure future generations have access to
the food.
“First, acknowledge that
insects are part of the diet and help enrich these diets with valuable
proteins,” he tells IPS.
“Secondly, provide
institutional and legal support to ensure that caterpillars brought to the
market are safe to eat for the consumers [and make sure] food inspections cover
the quality of insects, just as this is done for meat, fish, milk etc.
“Thirdly, promote a
sustainable supply,” he said.
According to FAO,
commercalisation of the Mopane caterpillar has led to intense pressure to
overharvest, resulting in unsustainable use. Since the 1990s, Mopane
populations have waned, with poverty, food insecurity and environmental
disasters making things worse.
Vantomme said levels of
harvesting should be monitored. New Mopane trees could be planted to increase
numbers.
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