At the base of a palm tree at my guesthouse, there's this wild hot pepper plant. Hundreds of guests have passed through here, but no one ate these peppers, until I showed up. Even my Indian landlord, who loves hot food, never touched this plant. The hot peppers in India point down, you see, so he wasn't used to this type. Following my example, he finally tried them a few days ago and found them fantastic.

My Indian landlord also has a mint plant, which I've been picking. He told me most Namibians don't have a very varied diet. He's tried to give carrots, mangoes and melons to a housekeeper, but she turned them all down. She told him she only ate bananas.

I asked him if Namibians eat cacti, since there are so many types here. Most don't, he said, though at rare markets, you can find cactus.

A bit of research reveals the Bushmen native to present day South Africa, Namibia and Botswana did nibble on cactus while hunting, but it sounds like it was only a last ditch recourse. Hunters and gatherers, they mostly ate berries, melons, roots and walnuts, with meat making up about a quarter of their diet. Large animals were plentiful then, so they had access to ostrich, oryx, springbok, zebra and elephant, etc., with just one kill providing plenty of meat.