An elderly woman stripping African locust beans from their pods. This crop is often referred to as nere in the village of Bagou and removing the beans from their pods is the first step in making dawadawa, the Hausa name for a fermented sticky ball used in West African cooking. Within each pod is a bright yellow, sugary pulp that surrounds each bean. This woman sat for hours under the shade of a tin overhang to remove the precious beans and occasionally popping one in her mouth to suck off the delicious pulpy exterior. I sat beside her, attempting and failing to make small talk in the local language of Bariba and trying to prove that I wanted to help with the tedious task of stripping the nere pods of their valuable innards.