GonetoGhanaNews

It is caterpillar season now... after several weeks of eating Shea leaves they have grown to a size larger than my thumb- apparently the preferred size for making caterpillar soup. My dad and brother were here for mango season, but my less fortunate stepmother will arrive in the middle of caterpillar season. The other day I walked over to my neighbor's house. All the women and children of the house were sitting outside on a wooden bench underneath their sheanut tree. They were casually breaking apart the now crispy caterpillars and popping them into their mouths much like a group of men eating peanuts at a sports bar. As we sat there an occasional caterpillar would fall from the tree and land on the ground. The grandmother picked it up and added it to her bucket to be dried and smoked later. Eulalia handed me a caterpillar. I looked down at it and thought about its earlier form... big, plump, crawling, and filled with yellow gooey guts. I am very thankful that they don't eat them raw because I know I would have to try it, if for no other reason than to write to you about eating raw caterpillars, and I don't know if I'm ready for that yet. I try to focus on the words "sun-dried" and "smoked" which remind me of "sun-dried" tomato cream cheese and "smoked" lox. The stiff, blackened caterpillar rolls around in my hand as I work up the nerve. I look around at the family casually popping them in their mouths. I follow suit. It is crunchy and flaky and has little flavor than I expected. I might say it is similar to the hardened, crispy cheese that finds its way out of your grilled cheese and onto the pan, but I won't because that sounds like something you would want to eat a lot of. Instead, I will compare it to the dried little fish and squid I ate when I was in japan. It flaked apart in my mouth but didn't dissolve. I just chewed fast so I wouldn't recognize any parts only flakes.

These caterpillars are everywhere:
I try not to step on them when I am running because I know that someone’s grandma will be on that path later that day collecting them.

I see bigger children chasing littler children around threatening to touch them with it. I'm guessing the smaller kid hasn't put it together yet that the caterpillar he's running from might be in his soup tomorrow night.

After we have finished playing volleyball in the field behind the school, my teammates gather around to buy condoms (1/2 a penny each). We are gathered under a shea tree, most of its leaves have now been eaten. As I pull the wooden penis out of my bag to do my first condom demonstration for the team, I am suddenly very aware of the pitter-patter of small green pellets falling from the tree and hitting the ground like a light rain...caterpillar poop.

I am out of time.
peace
jenell

Note from the less fortunate stepmother: It is also caterpillar season here in Minnesota. Yesterday Mia was playing with caterpillars while we were working on our house. Perhaps I should try sun-drying them and making some caterpillar soup so Cooper doesn’t have to miss out on this important cultural experience??? Stay tuned…. p.s. I will be in Ghana with Jenell the first two weeks in August!!! Also good news about Jenell's friend who is home from the hospital and apparently busy eating caterpillars (Eulalia and Julalia are the same person :-)