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Popular ZBCtv producer, Dulsie Fadzai Madekwa known as Chef Dulsie, has co-authored a cookbook titled “Edible Insects: Food For The Future” in a bid to revive traditional food consumption.
Chef Dulsie is known for her show, ‘The Menu’ which airs every Sunday on ZBCtv.
The 95-page book which was spearheaded by an entomologist, Professor Robert Musundire of the Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) was funded by the Agri-FoSe2030 programme and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
Apart from targeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Agri-FoSe2030, programme, also aims to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture in low-income countries.
Sida is a Government agency whose mission is part of the national policy for global development which strives to reduce world poverty.
Chef Dulsie’s volume two book which was launched on October 25 was written by 10 authors.
Among them were scientists who looked at how to preserve the edible insects among other revelations.
In an interview, with The Herald Arts, Chef Dulsie said her duty was to reveal the recipes that she prepared using modern techniques so as to attract Millennials popularly known as 2ks.
“The scientists were the ones who were looking into the preservation of the insects, like how to breed them and how to process them. Some even looked at how to find those insects as some of these were gotten from as far as Gwanda, Matabeleland South.
“CUT was heading the whole research project, finding out if the insects were not poisonous. This was done by scientists from the university. I just came in on the recipes part,” Chef Dulsie said.
She said it was when she visited rural areas that she discovered how some people go to bed on empty stomachs, yet there is a lot that they can eat.
“There is a lot of food that people can eat, yet there’s so much poverty because people have forgotten about these things.
Some time when I was talking to some rural people about their living and what they do, they told me they possessed a farm because the owner had left and they were not allowed to farm so they were starving. “
“After hearing their story, it came to my senses that there are some foods that were once used to feed people but eventually, we forgot about those. I started asking them if they knew about insects like harurwa and mopane worms among others and they were saying they do not eat those, hence the drive that made me embark on this project,” Chef Dulsie added.
“Zimbabweans are my target audience. No one should go to bed on an empty stomach. We are heroines of our culture and we’re trying to re-educate Zimbabweans on the forgotten foods.”
Makurwe, majuru, and majenya among other insects are some of the insects that are mentioned in the book.
She said in coming up with the dishes, they are applying modern techniques and have come up with plans that have seen them producing pies made of the aforementioned insects’ flowers.
Chef Dulsie said that she is processing some of the insects into sausages so that they can look appealing to the eyes of the new generation.
“To make these become appealing to the modern people has been my job because they think eating insects is a sign of poverty. We’re trying to remove a poverty mentality about these foods.
Now, we can even make pies using the flowers from the insects,” she said.
Online Reporter