Mopane worm

For hundreds of years a subsistence food for millions of Africans has been the high-protein mopane, or mopani, worm. Layed in the sun to dry until they stop wiggling, dried mopani worms are often eaten raw.

Each week a half hour devotional is held at the Area Office for employees and senior missionaries. Leaving the meeting this week we chatted with Dominic Tshabalala and he surprised us by offering a dried mopani worm held in a napkin. The first photo shows how close I got to the worms--just standing next to Dominic as he held the napkin.

Dominic (Zulu tribe) and Pule Nkoe (Tswana tribe), fourth photo, tried to encourage many of the men to taste the worms by each eating one. Pule's description was that it tastes like flavored dirt.

Accepting the challenge, Ron popped a mopani worm in his mouth and said it was like tasting a dried stick or grass. Remember Ron is from the Vietnam era and paraphrasing a saying of the time, "he put it in his mouth, but didn't chew." The worm is still with us on his office desk.

It was a fun cultural exchange with men we have come to highly respect.