Human preference for, and insect damage to, six South African wild fruits

Throughout history, harvesting of fruit from the wild has played a role in the livelihoods of people in South Africa. For the San, who lived in South Africa for thousands of years, wild fruits were a staple food during parts of the year (Fox & Norwood Young 1983). Among the Bantu people, who entered South Africa about two thousand years ago (Hammond-Tooke 1993), agriculture was the main way in which food was acquired, but they also collected food from the wild. Especially during times of hardship, when cattle herds were decimated or crops were destroyed, they relied on hunting and gathering of fruits and edible plants from the wild for survival (Shapera & Goodwin 1959; Stuart & Malcolm 1986; Bundy 1988). European people settling in South Africa learnt to use and appreciate wild fruits (van Dyk 1988). In the rural areas of the Southern African region, the utilization of wild fruits as a source of food has persisted, especially among black people (Walker 1989; Shackleton 1996; Rossiter, Pellegrin et al. 1997). There is increasing interest in the domestication and improvement of selected fruits, and their utilization as orchard crops, marula (Sclerocarya birrea subsp. caffra) being the prime example (Nerd et al.1990; Holtzhausen, Swart & van Rensburg 1990; Nerd & Mizrahi 1993; Geldenhuys 2001; Taylor 2001; Barton 2001). Research into the wild fruits of South Africa has been mainly botanical or anthropological