ON May 16 2013, President Robert Mugabe launched the Food and Nutrition Security Policy (FNSP) of Zimbabwe whose goal is to, “promote and ensure adequate food and nutrition security for all people at all times in Zimbabwe, particularly among the most vulnerable and in line with our cultural norms and values and the concept of rebuilding and maintaining family dignity”. In trying to implement this National Nutrition Strategy, it is important to incorporate some indigenous diets practised across the country. My father , a MuTonga, who passed on in March this year at the age of 106 always intimated to me that a human being’s diet is their secret to longevity and I have never doubted that. What he ate contributed largely to his long life, a pure traditional diet of what was available. Diet is very important as certain foods help them keep warm during winter, while some of the food is laced with traditional medicines to enhance body activity and warding off disease.
According to the BaTonga elders, their staple food is millet, (mhunga) which they grind with a pistil and grinding stone until it turns into fine flour, which is then used to cook sadza, porridge and pancakes. The sadza is eaten with different kinds of relish ranging from dried baobab leaves, okra, special soups prepared from tubers and sweet potatoes and tomatoes and fish. However, fish makes an integral part of the BaTonga. The different kind of fish caught from the Zambezi River are eaten on different days depending on the family’s dietary preferences. Certain fish species such as eel and tiger are eaten on special days, while breams and kapenta fish can be eaten on any other day, the same goes for goat and chicken meat. So strong are their beliefs in traditional methods of doing things that to them, modern gadgets such as grinding mill are unnecessary. Still, they feel the so-called modern lifestyle is not much of a money-based economy.
The BaTonga also rely on what Mother Nature provides for them. During the dry season, they heavily rely on a certain bean-like delicacy, which is called busika, and which falls from a tree. The BaTonga elders say they have been eating busika for a long time. It boosts one’s manhood. If one’s libido is low you can use busika. Although it is sour, it can also be used as a delicacy in porridge or eaten raw. The BaTonga do not need to go for long distances to find Western medicines to have their ailments treated as all other medicinal requirement are found in their foods. Young children and babies are fed from the sour porridge which also acts as an anti-malarial or defends them against other fevers that are found in the valley. Porridge made from baobab fruit is also given to the children as the BaTonga believe that constantly feeding children this porridge makes them big just like the baobab tree itself. During festivals like Kuomboka and Lwindi Gonde elderly men and women with special cooking skills prepare fish and game meat for the community. Fish as an integral part of the BaTonga meal has to be carefully prepared by the experts, while special meat braaing skills are also required from young and old men. Chiefs, medicine men and spirit mediums, however, indulge in other rare delicacies that the common BaTonga people are not supposed to eat. What these selected people eat has a bearing on their well being, longevity and mental health. According to the BaTonga, chiefs are supposed to eat tortoise meat as it enables them to live longer. According to scientists, a tortoise can live up to 150 years. Bull frogs and other water snakes are also eaten by medicine men so that they could easily communicate with the underworld. A bullfrog hibernates most of the year and was seen as an ideal delicacy to enhance meditation. Fish eagles are also eaten by hunters. The BaTonga believe the fish eagle’s sharp eyesight enables the hunters to spot game from a long distance. The meat also keeps them alert at all times. Fishermen according to the BaTonga, are supposed to eat crabs and eels and other fish species that are found under deep waters in the river. This is to make them elusive whenever they encounter dangers associated with their work such as crocodiles and hippos that are sworn enemies to fisherman. Young women are encouraged to eat locusts, termites and crickets. These increase their body iron levels and enhance fertility. They are not supposed to cook as a certain fish species. According to the BaTonga elders, it is the man‘s duty to prepare fish in any household, this includes catching the fish from the water, smoking and drying it and eventually cooking it for his family. However, one prominent feature that immediately puts an identity on most BaTonga women of advanced age is the tobacco gourd (Inchelwa or Ndombona) with its pronounced pipe. The gourd is filled with water and stuffed with sorghum or millet grits contrary to the common belief that tobacco, and sometimes cannabis are contained in the gourd. The smoking of this mixture acts as a way to strengthen the elderly women’s lungs while the inhaled smoke is believed to clear illusions and daydreaming associated with old age.
The water traps harmful smoke to avoid cancer or harming the lungs. This makes it easy for one to enjoy the stuff without having to worry about harming the lungs. To the BaTonga, modern means of transport does not matter much since they are used to trekking long distances when they are hunting or on fishing expeditions as well as attending different traditional ceremonies. They have a special diet comprising of high protein fish and fat oily dried biltong.
While most Tonga people are still wrapped in their culture and traditions, there are, however, some from the area who feel the BaTonga way of life is a snare they would seize the earliest opportunity to escape from.