Edition 32: Autumn 2005
If you’re seeking traditional southern African cuisine on your travels, you won’t get more authentic than mopane worms ‐ large caterpillars fried, boiled or dried, widely considered a delicacy.
The worms feed on the mopane tree and are an important source of protein and income to many people. With wide, grey, segmented bodies 4-6cm long, they are the caterpillars of the large emperor moth. Adults lay a cluster of 50 to 200 eggs on twigs or leaves. After around ten days the caterpillars emerge. They grow for approximately six weeks, undergoing a staggering 4000-fold increase in body mass, before burrowing underground to form a pupa. One to six months later an adult moth emerges, which lives for only two to three days. It doesn’t feed; its sole purpose is to mate.
The mopane worm trade is threatened in places by over-harvesting, but some traditional leaders place embargos
on harvesting larvae at certain times to prevent the wasteful over-exploitation of small larvae, and to allow some mature ones to complete their lifecycle. Education programmes are also run in South Africa to teach sustainable harvesting. So there should be plenty of sautéed mopane worms on offer on your next trip to the region.
|
