FOOD has been connected to the human race from time immemorial and similar to its history, Zimbabwean food also has different shades of colour and flavour. With the advent of colonialism, the country has adopted heterogeneity in its culture, rituals, lifestyle and food.
Since Zimbabwe was a British colony, its people have followed some English customs. For instance, the majority of people no longer eat traditional foods as they have adapted to European foods and as a result, some taboos associated with Zimbabwean traditional food and customs have diminished.
People were discouraged from eating certain foods out of season. Many tribal groups do not eat animals, plants or other forms of food that bear their family name or totems.
For example, if a family’s totem is buffalo or elephant, such people should not eat meat from these animals. However, the advent of colonialism has seen some of these taboos thrown away by many communities who quickly embraced the Western habits of eating their food.
Unlike today where some prefer to eat their food without washing their hands, in typical Zimbabwean tradition before eating a meal, a dish of water is placed on the dining table for diners to clean their hands. Rudyi is the Shona word for right hand, which means the “one used for eating”. Even if a person is left-handed, it is considered impolite to eat using the left hand.
Nowadays a person can always eat using both hands with a knife and fork; those who are left handed can also use their left hands without any problems. Zimbabweans typically sit in a circle on the floor and eat food from one dish or bowl according to age group and sex. The practice of sharing is the communal way of eating, so diners have to pace themselves accordingly while eating with others.
But Western ways of eating forbid sharing from the same plate or bowl as this is said to spread diseases among those sharing the food.
In the communal way of eating, older children learnt to pace themselves with their younger siblings so they would not eat too much or too fast depriving the young of a fair share. Adults would pick pieces of meat first while the rest would follow the pecking order.
Younger children, the elderly and pregnant women would eat first if the food was scarce, then the rest of less vulnerable members of the family would eat last. Unlike in modern Western societies where guests are asked to serve food for themselves, in traditional Zimbabwe, however, people are served instead of helping themselves.
It was also considered polite to leave a small amount of food on your plate to show that you had been more than sufficiently provided for. After finishing eating the food, the diners clap their hands complimenting the totems of the head of the house and his wife, then those who would have cooked and served the food are also appreciated and thanked.
This is unlike the Western setup where everyone is served and just leaves the table without complementing the providers. After the food is finished adults leave the eating place first, followed by children who collect the plates and any other morsels which are then fed to chickens and dogs.
In general, wooden plates and spoons are used along with Western utensils. In some rural areas, Zimbabweans eat with their fingers.
When eating sadza, hands are washed before the meal. This is in sharp contrast to Western modern ways of eating where cutlery is used. While it is clear the country is now facing severe food shortages because of the El Nino-induced drought, food and nutrition insecurity may lead to the vicious cycle of malnutrition, increased susceptibility to disease, impaired mental and physical development, some communities are going back to their traditional way of food harvesting and sharing.
That probably means the discarding of the adopted Western methods and other rituals of eating food as well as resorting to traditional foods and edible insects such as magandari, mopani worms (madora) and harurwa whose nutritional value has been proven to ward off malnutrition.
Communities are also harvesting wild fruits such as mazhanje, tsvubvu and others known to have sustained people during times of drought.
The mopani worms which are currently in season in some parts of Matabeleland South Province are a popular delicacy not only in Zimbabwe but in Southern Africa.
They are so-called because they chiefly feed on the leaves of the wild mopani trees which grow in hot, low-lying areas. Their Shona name is madora. They are called amacimbi in Ndebele and are the caterpillars of the Emperor moth.
They have become an important food resource for people in the region. Mopani worms are hand-picked in the wild, often by women and children. Their innards are then removed before they are dried. Communities have been getting help in how to harvest this resource sustainably.
Dried mopane worms can be eaten raw as a quick snack. More commonly, they are soaked and boiled to rehydrate, therefore, becoming an important meal during times of drought.
Stinkbug or harurwa harvesting by the people of Bikita in Masvingo Province sometime in April also represents overcoming a fear-of-nature as it involves eating an organism that is usually abhorred.
Although grasshoppers and termites are traditional dishes, the people of Bikita capitalise on stinkbugs in their communal-lands to shrug off hunger.
For other communities who have for years endured the effects of drought, eating traditional foods is not new, as these have derived the benefits of nutritional balance from these foods. Communities such as the BaTonga rely on what Mother Nature provides.
During the dry season they heavily rely on a certain bean-like delicacy, which is called busika, from trees. This fruit has been eaten for a long time. Though it is sour, it can also be used as a delicacy in porridge or in its raw form.
Young children and babies are fed from the sour porridge which also acts as an anti-malarial medicine or defends them against other fevers that are found in the valley. Porridge made from baobab fruit is also given to the children. During drought, fish becomes an integral part of the BaTonga meal, so fishing and drying fish in preparation for the dry spell is important.
There are other rare delicacies such as bull frogs, crickets, tortoises and water snakes caught on the banks of rivers.
Zimbabwe faces a growing level of chronic malnutrition which is exacerbated by food insecurity.
This challenge is certainly beyond the capacity of a single sector or agency to address, hence requires multi-sectoral interventions such as traditional leadership, among others. To this end, the Government of Zimbabwe has developed a National Nutrition Strategy 2014-2018 whose main objective is to implement the Food and Nutrition Security Policy.
The Food and Nutrition Security Policy states that the Government ensures nutrition security for all through the implementation of evidence-based nutrition interventions that are integrated within a broad public health framework including health services, water and sanitation.
Indeed, these efforts are in line with the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-ASSET) which has identified Food Security and Nutrition as one of the Four Cluster pillars for implementation in the next five years.