A hearty meal: The San cuisine

As hunter-gatherers, we survive on the animals we catch and the roots and fruits we gather. Our diet follows the seasons and animal movements. While hunting and foraging, we take only what we need, ensuring we do not over-hunt or over-collect plants.

While plants form the bulk of our diet, we also catch small creatures like tortoises, ants, and various insects.

Plant gathering involves two main activities: picking and digging. We spend several hours a day doing either. Digging is tougher, requiring great effort as we use only our hands to dig two to three feet deep.

The nuts we gather are a rich source of hydration and essential nutrients. We usually eat them raw but sometimes crack them open by pounding stones together or roast them in ashes to bring out a richer flavor.

We mostly eat raw food, including berries like Grewia and Ximenia, Strychnos cocculoides, green vegetables, moisture-rich plants such as melons and aloe, and various roots.

For plants, we prefer them pan-fried. If that’s not possible, we cook them by burying them in hot embers or ashes, just like meat, since we never eat meat raw.

Meat is cooked in a skillet, fried for over an hour with a little water and melon pulp. Once the meat is done, we discard the fruit’s peel, mash the remaining flesh in a mortar, and eat it as a gruel.

As long as meat hangs on the branches, community meals are secured. The men’s primary task is to catch big game, which is then thinly sliced and sun-dried to preserve it and prevent spoilage.

Several taboos are associated with animal consumption, often based on a person's sex, age, or marital status, though many are individual. We believe that anyone who eats a forbidden animal will fall ill or even die as a consequence.