In June 2016, due to acute maize shortage, the Malawi Government asked millions of starving Malawians to start eating Mbewa as alternative foods during the hunger period at that time. Mbewa or Mice is now part of the Malawian culture for relish.
From April till August, people who are traveling on the main M1 Highway in Malawi from Zomba to Lilongwe often time may encounter many youngsters at the side of the road, holding aloft sticks of Mbawe for sale.
There are a couple types of Mbewa: Akapeta and Akapuku. Akapeta are bit oily (and very soft) while Akapuku has not too many fats and are relatively harder when chewing. Mbewa is caught, boiled in a pot and roasted over a fire. It should not be roasted long enough to burn off the copious amounts of visible fur. After roasting, the seller put them on a stick. Then they are garnished with salt and cayenne pepper. Mbewa is best eaten together with the meat and fur. Overall, I can say the taste of Mbewa is similar like tender local chicken meat.
Mice Mbewa live in the holes in the jungle or on farms. There are several ways of catching Mbewa. the ideal process to catch the mice is either to trap them or extract them from the soils. Usually, the youth set the fires at the entrance of holes to smoke the dizzy mice out. Also, Mbewa sometimes found in gardens that people have just harvested so no need of burning any bush. Mbewa eat vegetables which make their meat clean and juicy.
