03 Sep Anyone Fancy Worms for Dinner? Southern Africa’s Ancient Taste for Bugs
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Southern Africa is home to roughly 80,000 known insect species (and researchers suspect many more are still waiting to be found!). Most of us sort them into three lazy piles: the pretty ones, the forgettable ones, and the ones we swat away before they sting or bite.
But across northern South Africa, Zimbabwe, and much of the wider continent, rural communities have long used a fourth category, one that has nothing to do with looks and everything to do with survival: food.
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The Original Superfood: Mopane Worms
Mopane worms, the caterpillars of the Emperor Moth, are harvested, dried, and either eaten as a snack or simmered into a hearty stew. Gram for gram, they pack roughly three times the protein of beef, which makes the “gym bro” obsession with protein shakes look cute and quaint by comparison.
Despite growing on mopane trees in specific, often remote regions, these caterpillars travel well. Dried and bagged, they turn up in markets and shops in cities far from where they were picked.
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Beyond the Worm: A Whole Menu of Delicacies
Mopane worms may be the headline act, but they’re far from the only insect on the menu. Termites, grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, beetle grubs, and the notorious edible stinkbug all have their place at the table as incredible sources of protein, carbohydrates, and vitamins. These are especially valuable when drought or hardship puts other food sources under pressure.
Flying ants (technically winged termites) emerge from underground nests on warm summer evenings and are gathered on the wing, then roasted. Some people like them plain; others finish them with a pinch of chilli powder or salt. Like mopane worms, they’re often dried and sold on to towns and cities well beyond where they were caught.
Locusts get much the same treatment, landing on plates as a satisfyingly crunchy snack once cooked.
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The Stinkbug: Southern Africa’s Most High-Maintenance Delicacy
If mopane worms are the easy ‘snack’, the edible stinkbug (Encosternum delegorguei) is the insect that demands a little TLC. Found across central and southern Africa, it’s a prized delicacy but it doesn’t give itself up without a fight.
True to its name, the stinkbug defends itself with a foul-smelling chemical spray, and that has to go before the insect becomes anything close to appetising. The fix is a patient one: the live bugs are dropped into hot water, which forces them to purge their scent glands. That water is tipped out, and the process is repeated several times over before the insects are finally dried and roasted.
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A Forest Protected by Its Bugs
Here’s where the story gets bigger than dinner. In Zimbabwe’s Jiri Forest, in the Chikomba area, stinkbugs feed on a specific set of local plants and local leaders have banned the harvesting of those plants outright.
The rule exists to protect the insects and the forest itself.
“As a result of the human–forest–stinkbug relationship, the use of more than 10 indigenous plants species within this forest has been forbidden and deforestation has been avoided,” notes the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).
It’s a rare kind of conservation story where an appetite for a small, smelly insect ends up safeguarding an entire ecosystem.
References
South African National Biodiversity Institute: https://www.sanbi.org/animal-of-the-week/edible-stinkbug/ Sinthumule, N.I. — Livelihoods from local-level commercialisation of alate termites as food and feed in Thulamela Local Municipality, Limpopo Province, South Africa
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