ABSTRACT
Manioc may be called one of the staple food plants of the Leŋge, and as the supply is fairly certain there seems to be no special magical rite connected with its growth. The whole plant is mitsumbula (Thoŋga) and mipau (Leŋge). The action of pulling up the root is kutsavula, separating a tuber is kukuha, but when the plant is quite young, and several tubers are separated because food is scarce, it is kukuhetela. Roots or stems drawn straight from the earth and scraped ready for immediate cooking are figinya. Sometimes the figinya is split lengthwise (kupanzela) after scraping, and the pieces spread out in the fields for a week or so. When dried they are known as ʂigema. The ʂigema are stamped in a mortar, and the result is known as ŋkadaŋga. This is cooked in boiling water with salt, and the thick porridge-bread which results is known as vuswa la ʂigema. Any dish of green vegetables or ground-nuts eaten with this vuswa is known as mutfovelo (sauce). The vuswa must be eaten hot. It is very hard when cold. Indeed it has to be stirred with a very short stick when being cooked, for a wooden spoon would break. Fresh figinya when cut into dice-like pieces, and cooked with the leaves of pumpkins or Momordica Clematidea, forms a very palatable dish. Manioc leaves are cooked and eaten in times of scarcity. This dish is known as mathapa.
