Go Monate!

Means..It’s tasty! I think I can honestly say that my favorite part of travelling to new places is trying the local food. Botswana is not exactly known for its cuisine (it doesn’t compare with Indian-influenced Tanzanian food, or delicious West African stews), but I still like discovering fruits and veggies I’ve never heard of before. And here, many of these edible novelties come from the river. Yesterday, Rra Serome came back from Parakarungu (his home village and one of my field sites) with what looked like sugar cane, but apparently grows at the bottom of the river and can be pulled up and eaten raw. He broke me off a piece and showed me how to chew it and then spit out the fibers and skin, just like sugar cane. It has a refreshing watery taste, almost like jicama. Then he gave me a piece of what looked like a creamy-tan colored piece of soft bark—from the mokolwane palm tree. I ate it and I guess not surprisingly, it tasted quite similar to…hearts of palm! But at home, all I know about hearts of palm is that they come in a can soaked in water, and here, I had the remnants of the inner mokolwane tree sitting on a plate in front of me. Nothing like knowing exactly where your food is coming from! I’m still waiting to try tswii (water lily bulbs), but in the meantime Rra Serome has also brought back freshly fried tilapia (lots of bones but still yum) and tonight, kgaka (guinea fowl), which Sega will prepare for lunch tomorrow.