Desert Delicacy · Wild Underground Fungus
Kalahari Truffle (!Nabas)
Photo: Chtrede / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
The San track these truffles by spotting hairline cracks that the growing fungus pushes up through the sand — they only appear in some years, after late rain is followed by a cold snap.
Known to the San as !nabas and sometimes called 'sand potato', this desert truffle grows just beneath the surface of the Kalahari sand around Ghanzi and is dug up by hand once cracks in the soil give its location away. It's roasted in the coals or added to a stew, prized as a rare seasonal treat rather than an everyday food.
Why it's made this way: Harvested by San communities for millennia, the Kalahari truffle is both a traditional foraged food and, increasingly, a small source of income as interest in African desert truffles grows.
More from Botswana
Chibuku (Bojalwa)
Magwinya (Vetkoek)
Phane (Mopane Worms)
Seswaa
Bogobe (Sorghum Porridge)
Dikgobe (Samp and Beans)
Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below.
Photo credits.