Dried caterpillar · Wild-harvest protein

Phane (Mopane Worms)

Photo: Chandapiwa Malema / Wikimedia Commons · CC0

Mopane worms deliver roughly five times more iron than beef by weight, yet a sachet costs about the same as a soft drink.

Phane are the dried caterpillars of the mopane emperor moth, harvested from mopane trees, gutted, boiled, and sun-dried. Vendors sell small bags of the crunchy, earthy-tasting worms at markets and roadside stands, where buyers often rehydrate and fry or stew them with onion and tomato.

Why it's made this way: Mopane worms are a seasonal wild harvest rather than a farmed crop, so drying turns a short annual glut into a lightweight, shelf-stable protein that vendors can carry and sell for months after the harvest ends.