AY Honors/Aboriginal Lore/Answer Key
The word Bushfood refers to any Australian native food, although it sometimes is used with the specific connotation of "food found in the Outback while living on the land". It is also called bushtucker. It includes both animal and plant foods native to Australia.
Examples of Australian native animal foods (meat) include kangaroo, emu and crocodile. These meats are not uncommon in Australian restaurants. Other animals, for example the Goanna and the witchetty grub, were eaten by Aboriginal Australians and thus qualify as bushfood in every sense of the word. Fish and shellfish are traditionally very popular bushfoods in coastal areas.
Examples of Australian native plant foods include the fruits: quandong (Santalum acuminatum), Australian desert raisin(Solanum centrale), muntries (Kunzea pomifera), Riberry (Syzygium luehmannii), and, Davidson's plum (Davidsonia spp.), finger lime (Citrus australsica). Native spices include lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora), mountain pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata), and, aniseed myrtle (Anetholea anista). A popular leafy vegetable is warrigal greens (Tetragonia tetragonioides).
Nuts include bunya nut (Araucaria bidwillii), and the most identifiable bushfood plant harvested and sold in large scale commercial quantities is the macadamia nut (Macadamia integrifolia).
Traditional Aboriginal use
Australian Aborigines have eaten native animal and plant foods for an estimated 60,000 years of human habitation on the Australian continent.
Various traditional methods of processing and cooking are used. Toxic seeds, such as Cycad (Cycas media) and Moreton Bay Chestnut (Castanospermum australe) are processed to remove the toxins and render them safe to eat. Many foods are also baked in the hot campfire coals, or baked for several hours in ground ovens. ‘Paperbark’, the bark of Melalauca species, is widely used for wrapping food placed in ground ovens.
Aboriginal traditional native food use was severely impacted by the invasion of non-indigenous people, via displacement from traditional lands, destruction of native habitat, and an the introduction of non-native foods.
The recent recognition of the nutritional value of native foods by non-indigenous Australian’s is assisting in a renewal of native cuisine. However, there are also intellectual property issues associated with the commercialization of bushfood.
Modern use
The colonial use of bushfoods supplied a source of nutrition to non-indigenous invaders, often supplementing meager rations. However, the culinary qualities of indigenous foods were not widely appreciated by non-indigenous Australian’s who were unfamiliar with the new lands food ingredients, generally preferring familiar non-native foods.
The only Australian native food cultivated on a large scale is the macadamia nut, with the first small-scale commercial plantations being planted in Australia in the 1880’s. However, the macadamia was mainly developed in Hawaii from stock imported from Australia.
In the 1970’s non-indigenous Australian’s began to generally recognize the over-looked unique indigenous aspects of Australia, including native foods. Textbooks like Wildfoods In Australia by the botanist couple Cribb & Cribb were popular, and later the author Tim Lowe published Wild Food Plants of Australia.
TV shows also made use of the bushfood theme. Malcolm Douglas was one of the first presenters to show how to 'live off the land' in the Australian Outback. But it was probably Major Les Hiddins who popularized the idea of bush tucker. A retired Australian Army soldier, he presented a hit TV series called Bush Tucker Man on the Australian Broadcasting Commission TV network in the late 1980s. In the series, Hiddins demonstrated his training and research in combat survival by locating native foodstuffs in the northern Australian Outback.
Bushfood enthusiasts in regional Australia began to assess the culinary and cropping qualities of bushfoods. This regional research laid the foundations for the development of the modern bushfood industry.
By the mid-1980’s metropolitan bushfood restaurants were using native Australian ingredients in recipes more familiar to modern tastes. This provided the first opportunity for bushfoods to be tried by non-indigenous Australian’s on a serious gourmet level. This soon lead to the realization that many strong flavored bushfoods have spice-like qualities. Some of these bushfood ingredients are now included in modern Australian restaurant cuisine.
Value-added bushfood products were also developed for the domestic and export market. The raw ingredients are sourced from wild and cultivated sources, with an emphasis on the later to provide sustainable quantities.
In the last decade, industry groups such as the Southern Bushfood Association, the Queensland Bushfood Association, the Northern Bushfood Association, and many others have been pushing for the introduction of bushfood as genuine cuisine in Australian and international restaurants.
The term "Bushfood" is recognized as the current term for Australian native cuisine, evolving from the older-style "bushtucker" which was used in the 1970s and 1980s. The word "bushfood" was chosen to reflect the sustainable nature of the industry's products, and to help exporters with product branding. It is the term most often used by Australian Government and CSIRO sources and authors.
Bushfood plants listed by culinary province. Australian bushfood plants can be divided into several distinct and large regional culinary provinces. Please note, some species listed grow across several climatic boundaries.
Top-end
Monsoonal zone of the Northern Territory, Cape York and Western Australia.
Fruit: Buchanania arborescens Little Gooseberry Tree, Ficus racemosa Cluster Fig, Morinda citrifolia Noni, Terminalia latipes var. psilocarpa Kakadu Plum,
Syzygium suborbiculare Lady Apple.
Spice: Eucalyptus staigeriana Lemon Ironbark
Vegetable: Dioscorea transversa Pencil Yam
Central Australia
Arid and semi-arid zones of the low rainfall interior.
Fruit: Capparis spp. Native Caper, Eremicitrus glauca Desert lime, Ficus platypoda Desert Fig, Owenia acidula Emu Apple, Enchylaena tormentosa Ruby Saltbush, Santalum acuminatum Quangdong, Santalum lanceolatum Sandalwood, Solanum centrale Akudjura, Marsdenia australis Doubah.
Seed: Acacia aneura Mulga, Acacia coriacea Dogwood, Acacia holosericea Strap Wattle, Acacia kempeana Witchetty Bush, Acacia victoriae Gundabluey, Brachychiton populneus Kurrajong.
Vegetable: Calandrinia balonensis Parakeelya, Lepidium spp. Peppercresses, Portulaca intraterranea Large Pigweed.
Eastern Australia Subtopical rainforests of New South Wales to the wet tropics of Northern Queensland.
Fruit: Acronychia acidula Lemon Aspen, Citrus australasica Finger Lime, Citrus australis Dooja, Davidsonia spp. Davidson’s Plum, Ficus coronata Sandpaper Fig, Pleiogynium timorense Burdekin Plum, Podocarpus elatus Illawarra Plum, Syzygium luehmannii Riberry.
Spice: Anetholea anisata Aniseed Myrtle, Backhousia citriodora Lemon Myrtle, Backhousia myrtifolia Cinnamon Myrtle, Prostanthera incisa Cut-leaf Mintbush.
Nut: Araucaria bidwillii Bunya Nut, Macadamia integrifolia Macadamia Nut, Macadamia tetraphylla Bush Nut.
Vegetable: 'Apium prostratum Sea Celery, Tetragonia tetragonioides Warrigal Greens, Trachymene incisa Wild Parsnip.
Temperate
Warm and cool temperate zones of Tasmania, South Australia, and the highlands of New South Wales.
Fruit: Billarderia cymosa Sweet Apple-berry, Billarderia longiflora Purple Apple-berry, Billarderia scandens Common Apple-berry, Carpobrotus rossii Karkalla, Kunzea pomifera Muntrie, Rubus parvifolius Pink-flowered Native Raspberry.
Seed: Acacia longifolia Golden Rods, Acacia sophorae Coast Wattle.
Spice: Eucalyptus olida Strawberry Gum, Tasmannia lanceolata Mountain pepper, Tasmannia stipitata Dorrigo Pepper.
Vegetable: Apium insulare Flinders Island Celery, Atriplex cinerea Grey Saltbush, Burchardia umbellata Milkmaids, Microseris scapigera Murnong.
See also
- Bushmeat, something quite different
