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The Baobab as a Hunger-Time Tree of Life

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Baobab

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Abstract

Hunger has long been associated with seasonal changes as well as such things as drought, natural disasters, ruinous economic circumstances, social unrest, and warfare. This chapter describes the baobab as a diverse food source for all seasons; it can aptly be described as Africa’s hunger-time tree of life, one that is as important today for the Hadza and other savanna dwellers as it would have been for early hominins. The baobab’s value as a hunger-time food source is especially appreciated during the annually recurring period of food scarcity which, depending on latitude, local ecology, and mode of subsistence, most often occurs between the end of winter in March and the beginning of summer in June (Speth 1987). More broadly, the baobab provides hunger relief in many parts of Africa because it is a multisource food tree whose edible parts are available year-round or for several months and whose leaves and fruit can be preserved for use throughout the year, especially in the dry time. The tree produces leaves with the return of the annual rains in spring, sheds them at the beginning of the dry time in autumn, and is leafless in the winter dry season. The naturally dry ripe fruits are stored as they are. But leaf storage requires collecting and cleaning the leaves, drying them, then pounding, grinding, and sieving them to make a powder (Raji and Adeyemi 2018) for household use or sale in the dry time.

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  1. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, USA

    John Rashford

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Rashford, J. (2023). The Baobab as a Hunger-Time Tree of Life. In: Baobab. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26470-2_15

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