When was the last time you had a kangaroo steak? Or seasoned your meal with a little saltbush? Bit into a fresh Kakadu plum?
If the answer to the above questions is “Um, never!”, you’re probably like the majority of Australians who have very little experience of our native foods. Well, apart from macadamia nuts.
“Australia is the only country that has consistently ignored the native foods of the land,” says John Newton, author of the The Oldest Foods on Earth. The journalist and seasoned restaurant reviewer is on a mission to encourage the eating of native foods, which he believes have been seriously neglected.
But is all this talk of native foods just bringing up images of witchetty grubs and honey ants? Not so fast. From health benefits to sustainability to just amazing flavour, here’s why you need to reconsider your notions of bush tucker.
The original superfoods.
While we’re all too happy to ferret out kale for our salads or try quinoa instead of rice, the healthiest foods in the world have been lying under our noses.
“All the superfoods that you need are in this country,” says John. “Native foods have developed very high levels of nutrients to survive the environment. The Tasmanian pepperberry has been around since Gondwanaland, so it’s lived through the ice age, through arid heat, it’s been through everything!”
“Native foods have developed very high levels of nutrients to survive the environment.”
Another potent example is the Kakadu plum (also known as gubinge or murunga). It has 600 times the vitamin C of oranges, the highest concentration of any known plant source in the world. But, though it’s extremely sustainable and has much fewer carbon miles than açaí, you’d still be unlikely to find it in the superfood bowls of your local hipster café.
“When I was writing restaurant reviews, a lot of critics generally thought native foods were a gimmick. Which is a bit silly seeing as those are the foods which kept the people of this country alive and healthy for 50,000 years!”
Pushing past prejudices.
John is first to admit that even he was unaware of native foods, until he tried kangaroo in a little Greek restaurant in Paddington, Sydney in 1993.
“I realised that I had never eaten anything from my own country. I was totally ignorant of Australian native produce. From that dish of ‘roo onwards, I began to take notice of the chefs who were incorporating native foods into their cuisines.”
Since then, John has watched attitudes around native foods shift and soften. Chefs like Kylie Kwong and Peter Gilmore incorporating it into their cuisine, and institutions like Le Cordon Bleu are beginning to teach their students how to prepare and cook native produce.
“The argument that kangaroo is on our coat of arms is wearing very thin.”
Yet, after 130 years of neglect, the revolution is a slow one. Many people fail to see past common stereotypes, from ingrained prejudices to connotations of “eating Skippy”.
“Oh, the argument that kangaroo is on our coat of arms is wearing very thin!” says John. “The original people of this continent thrived on our “national animal” for 50,000 years. We wanted to prove that there were no people here – terra nullius – so we ignored native produce and trod over the intricate and sophisticated system the Indigenous people had built.
“The after-effects for our health, our land and our culture have been very deleterious.”
Supply creates demand.
Yet the blame can not be laid entirely on the consumer. John says that manufacturers and distributors have to make more effort to give people access and awareness of native foods.
“You can’t walk down to Coles and buy some ice plant or some lemon myrtle. It’s even difficult to get good ‘roo.”
The Australian Government has also hindered the accessibility of native foods. Restrictions on hunting native animals mean that they are almost impossible to get – even if the bush is overrun with them.
“Some of the restrictions on hunting native animals are pointless. Brush turkeys are seen as a pest… and they’re protected!” says John. “They actually happen to taste terrific. A cookbook in the 1870s compared their taste to pheasant. They don’t need protection, they need eating.”
“We, as Australians, need to eat our own food.”
But while it’s unlikely that you’ll see ready-to-roast brush turkey turn up in supermarkets anytime soon, John believes that with a little research and shopping savvy, we can – and should – be including native foods in our everyday diets.
“Ask your local IGA to stock good ‘roo. Do a little research and see what you can find. Outback Pride has some amazing produce and distributes nationally. The most important thing is that we, as Australians, need to eat our own food. If we did, there would be all sorts of benefits – both for our healthy and for the economy. And our flavour, too!”
Have you tried bush tucker?
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