Foraged Snack · Wild Nut
Mangetti Nuts (Manga)
Photo: NoodleToo / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Anthropologist Richard Lee's 1960s studies of the Ju/'hoansi San found that mongongo (manketti) nuts supplied a large share of their daily calories, more than any other plant food.
The oily, protein-rich kernel inside the manketti tree's fruit is cracked out by hand, then eaten raw, roasted over coals, or pounded into a nutty paste to enrich porridge.
Why it's made this way: Manketti trees are scattered across the sandy woodlands of Namibia's far northeast, and the nut has sustained San and Kavango communities in the region for generations, ripening each year between March and May.
More from Namibia
Part of World of Street Food — 3443 dishes from 118 countries.
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