This morning, the girls and I looked out our door and saw a huge grasshopper sitting on a chair. I told the girls that it was a grasshopper; Abigail replied "I thought it was a chair hopper".
We went outside and watched the grasshopper for about thirty minutes.
When the maids arrived, the girls showed them the grasshopper. Carol (one of the maids) told me that some tribes in Zambia cook and eat grasshoppers. Of course, I had to learn more, so I googled it and found some information here and here. I learned that the Bemba tribe in the Northern Province uses grasshoppers, caterpillars, and other insects in a variety of dishes. Insects are a good source of protein and fat and are easily accessible. You can see a video of a family cooking and eating grasshoppers here. Carol watched this video with me and said "that is real starvation". She told me that other Zambian tribes also eat rats and monkeys, but told me numerous times that she does not eat any of those things!
While I do plan to try a lot of new things during our time in Zambia, I don't think that I will be cooking or eating any grasshoppers (or rats or monkeys)!
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