Dario`s Blog

Mopane’s Worms History

Prologue:

One fine day I joined in my Professor’s office. He was watching a video on Youtube about insect candy and I too began to watch it. At the end he asked to me: Can you be able to eat an insect?

Mamelodi Market

It was afternoon in Mamelodi, we were going to an informal market in the suburban areas around Pretoria because of my research. With me there were Ali, who was working for the ministry of agriculture, and two students, Pretty and Lebo. While I was walking among the market my attention was captured by a woman that was selling strange stuff… They seemed dry insects.

After the interviews with the vendors, who were selling raw offal. That was my research. We went back to the car, but the temptation was too strong for me, so I began to talk to the woman. Yes, they were dry caterpillars. The girls said: come on! Buy them! They are Mopane worms’! It is our culture. Obviously even the woman began to talk. In South Africa the people are like in Naples, they start to talk and you cannot say no, specially the vendors, so I bought them. Just two Rands and I left that place with my bag full of dry caterpillar.

Inside the car I ate quickly my first worm and, proud of my opened mind, I tried to give them to my South African friends. Lebo said: yes, I’ll eat it later! Pretty saved the worm for her cousin, and Ali said: No, thanks, it is not my culture. Me: Is it true? ..and which is your culture?  Ali: I am a black Jew. I have never understood what he was meaning.

Technical comment:

What is a Mopane worms? Imbrasia Bellina the scientific name, but it is just a big caterpillar that lives on Mopane tree. The butterfly has a wingspan of 12cm with two big orange spots that look like cat eyes and in its 4 day of life it has to find a mate. The larva has 5 stages, the last stage it is perfect to harvest but the problem is that human being is not its only predator. South African food chain is practically built on these poor worms. It’s difficult the life for them.

Women and children in South Africa pick caterpillars up in the wild or around the farms, because they are not considered to belong to the landowner. Afterwards the worms are raised in bushes near their homes. When they are ready the women pinch them at the tail end break the innards then they squeezes them like tubes of toothpaste or lengthwise like concertina, and whip them to expel the slimy, green contents of the gut.

The traditional method of preserving mopane worms is to dry them in the sun or smoke them, giving additional flavour. The industrial method is to can the caterpillars.

Conclutions:

A friend of mine, he was an Afrikaans man, said that even him was eating a lot of mopane worms during the war. When I went back to Italy I gave my mopane worms to my friends and with a sip of beer and a chat the bag ran out very quickly.

In my opinion these dry and woody insect are a funny and cheap source of protein suitable with a good glass of Peroni.