admin
Fadzayi Maposah Correspondent
There are so many edible insects in this country.
In Masvingo, particularly in Bikita District, there is a popular insect called harurwa. Many people in Bikita consider harurwa as a special delicacy.
I have never eaten this Bikita delicacy, but I have friends and relatives who have told me that it is one of the things that needs to be on the list of snacks one should eat in their lifetime!
I have been told that preparation is important as far as harurwa is concerned.
There is a type of harurwa known as fuve which is reported to leave a sour taste in the mouth.
Eating a fuve can result in tears as one bites it. The true harurwa fans say tears are experienced by those who are new to the delicacy.
Maybe the feeling is like when you eat spicy food… harurwa eaters where are you?
In Matabeleland, there are amacimbi/madora. When one sees them crawling he or she cannot imagine that when properly prepared these can be a wonderful relish.
Back in Shurugwi, kuRockford, amacimbi could be enjoyed either spiced and fried, after some boiling of course. Or they could be in a peanut butter sauce where the black from the amacimbi was fused against the brown from the peanut butter.
Travel to Birchenough Bridge, Manicaland, they have quelea birds popularly known as Ngozha. These are little birds that are sold packaged in small plastics.
The first time I saw them being sold, shocked is not the word to describe what I felt. Then having people eat them was another level of experience.
The fact that there are vendors who sell these snacks on a daily basis means there is a ready market.
The first time I went to Mashonaland Central, I was truly amazed by the amount of masawu fruit in the area.
Like a crazy woman, I just sat under a tree and ate masawu until I was full. Then the masawu fruit began its work in my stomach! A lot of fermentation.
As someone who was not well acquainted with masawu, I drank lots of water.
All I can say is the ending was not good at all.
In Sanyati in Mashonaland West, there are varieties of baobab fruit, mawuyu. There are some trees which are said to produce terrible fruit that no one wants to eat from them.
Now, mawuyu can be enjoyed in a number of ways – mawuyu drink, mawuyu porridge, or just suck on them like a sweet.
If you eat mawuyu like you eat masawu, you will have sensitive teeth, “ugugu”.
People have taken initiatives to dry mawuyu and process into different products including jam. Levels of creativity in this country are amazing.
Here I have just mentioned just a few things that are amazing in this country. I am not saying what I have shared is what the places best offer.
No. These are just samples, there are a lot more wonderful things, some that I am yet to discover.
You may be thinking that I am all about food today. Yes, and no. I love good food, of harurwa, amacimbi, masawu, ngozha and mawuyu I will not share which is my favourite.
Once I attended a funeral wake for a church mate’s mother. During the night, songs were interrupted occasionally by testimonies of how the late mother had touched the lives of people around her. It was indeed a life well lived.
As day was breaking, one of my fellow church members started a roll call of people who wanted to bath. Of course, I also wanted to bath so I told her that I wanted to bath as well.
Then she suggested that we could all go to the nearby river and take quick baths before it was light.
The moment I heard the word river, I told her that I would just freshen up and not go river bathing. I am not sure if there is a name for people who do not bath in rivers, at rivers or by the river. I will Google later! I am one of those people.
Call it a phobia or unfaced fears, but that is me!
Then what followed was why I did not want to bath by the river since we were all female.
Everyone wanted me to answer them individually. One then chose to announce that I loved my privacy when bathing, something that I had not said!
This month we have discussed the importance of breast cancer awareness.
Some women may need to have a breast removed or even both removed.
It takes a toll on them physically and emotionally.
They need a lot of support. They may not be comfortable in some situations as they adjust and come to terms with the new self.
She is still very much female but may not be comfortable undressing for what you think is `nothing` such as bathing in an open space. That all those present and bathing are female does not make it right for everyone.
I am from Sanyati and yet eating mawuyu may cause ugugu and when I share that no one lectures me or wearies me with questions.
Neither should I make it compulsory for all cooking amacimbi to put them in peanut butter as that is the only recipe that I grew up seeing.
There are areas in our lives that we deem are fine without questions but then there are areas where we join the police special investigations unit and never get paid because the ZRP does not know about our operations!
Like the fuve we may bring tears to some people because we are totally insensitive to what they are going through.
Reproductive health issues are complex yet they are very important. When we are clueless, we should seek more information than anything.
We should also remember to give individuals their space understanding that maybe we will not be privy to private information.
Be kind. What they may choose may not be what we consider best. Let them be. Harurwa, amacimbi, mawuyu, masawu, ngozha prepared differently and enjoyed in their differences!
Online Reporter