AY Honors/Aboriginal Lore/Answer Key

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Alice Springs Desert Park, Bush Tucker

The word Bushfood refers to any food native to Australia and used as sustenance by the original inhabitants, the Australian Aborigines, although it is sometimes used with the specific connotation of "food found in the Outback while living on the land". It is also called bush tucker. It includes both animal and plant foods native to Australia.

Examples of Australian native animal foods (meats) include kangaroo, emu and crocodile. In particular, kangaroo is quite common and can be found in many normal supermarkets at prices comparable to beef. Other animals, for example goanna and witchetty grubs, were eaten by Aboriginal Australians and thus qualify as bushfood in every sense of the word. Fish and shellfish are culinary features of the Australian coastal communities.

Examples of Australian native plant foods include the fruits: quandong (Santalum acuminatum), Australian desert raisin (Solanum centrale), muntries (Kunzea pomifera), riberry (Syzygium luehmannii), Davidson's plum (Davidsonia spp.), and, Finger Lime (Citrus australasica). Native spices include lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora), mountain pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata), and, aniseed myrtle (Syzygium anisatum). A popular leafy vegetable is warrigal greens (Tetragonia tetragonoides).

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).

Knowledge of Aboriginal uses of fungi is meagre but Fistulina hepatica and Native bread (Laccocephalum mylittiae) were certainly eaten.

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 (see Indigenous Australian food groups, Australian Aboriginal sweet foods).

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. Bush bread was made by women using many types of seeds, nuts and corms to process a flour or dough to make bread.

Aboriginal traditional native food use has been severely impacted by non-indigenous immigration, especially in the more densely colonised areas of south-eastern Australia since 1788. There, loss of traditional lands has resulted in reduced access to native foods by Aborigines. This impact on traditional foods has been further accentuated by the destruction of native habitat for agriculture, and the introduction of non-native foods to Aborigines by colonists.

The recent recognition of the nutritional and gourmet value of native foods by non-indigenous Australians is introducing native cuisine to white Australians, many for the first time. However, there are unresolved intellectual property issues associated with the commercialisation of bushfood.

Colonial use

Bushfoods provided a source of nutrition to the non-indigenous colonial settlers, often supplementing meager rations. However, bushfoods were often considered to be inferior by colonists unfamiliar with the new land's food ingredients, generally preferring familiar foods from the homeland.

The only Australian native food developed and cropped on a large scale is the macadamia nut, with the first small-scale commercial plantation being planted in Australia in the 1880s. Subsequently, Hawaii was where the macadamia was commercially developed to its greatest extent from stock imported from Australia.

Modern use

In the 1970s non-indigenous Australians began to recognise the previously over-looked 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 Low published Wild Food Plants of Australia. Jenifer Isaacs wrote the book Bushfood, and Vic Cherikoff wrote The Bushfood Handbook.

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. Major Les Hiddins, a retired Australian Army soldier popularized the idea of bush tucker as an interesting food resource. He presented a hit TV series called Bush Tucker Man on the ABC TV network in the late 1980s. In the series, Hiddins demonstrated his research for Norforce in identifying foods which might sustain or augment army forces in the northern Australian Outback. In 1983, the University of Sydney's Human Nutrition Unit, headed by Jennie Brand-Miller, also undertook a nutritional analysis programme analyzing bushfood for Aboriginal health.

In the late 1970's regionally based horticulturists started to assess local native food-plants for commercial use. In the mid-1980s several Sydney restaurants began using native Australian ingredients in recipes more familiar to modern tastes. This provided the first opportunity for bushfoods to be tried by non-indigenous Australians on a serious gourmet level, and led to the realisation that many strongly flavoured bushfoods have spice-like qualities. This led to the establishment of a specialist bushfood supply chain. Some of these bushfood ingredients now feature in modern Australian cuisine, and Australian spices are being increasingly recognised internationally (see bushfood industry history).

Value-added bushfood products were also developed for the domestic and export markets. The raw ingredients were initially sourced from the wild and more recently cultivated using largely organic methods with an emphasis on maintaining sustainable quantities from both sources. Many Aboriginal communities continue to be involved in the supply chain and in investigating other socially and culturally appropriate opportunities.

The term "bushfood" is one of several terms describing native Australian food, 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. The term "authentic Australian food" is another marketing term recently coined to create further separation from the more rustic bush connotations, although "bushfood" is the most established and widespread term that describes native Australian food.

Native Australian food-plants listed by culinary province and plant part

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.

Fruits

Buchanania arborescens Little Gooseberry Tree
Citrus gracilis Kakadu Lime
Eugenia carissoides Cedar Bay Cherry
Ficus racemosa Cluster Fig
Manilkara kaukii Wongi
Melastoma affine Blue Tongue
Mimusops elengi Tanjong
Morinda citrifolia Noni
Physalis minima Native Gooseberry
Terminalia ferdinandiana Kakadu Plum
Syzygium suborbiculare Lady Apple

Vegetables

Cycas media Cycad palm seeds (Require detoxification: see Bush bread )
Dioscorea alata Chinese or winged yam
Dioscorea transversa
Pencil Yam, Long Yam
Dioscorea bulbifera Round Yam
Eleocharis sp. Mat-Rush, a traditional staple for Yolngu
Ipomoea aquatica Native Kang Kong
Lotus nelumbo Lotus
Nelumbo nucifera water lily
Nymphaea macrosperma water lily

Nuts

Semecarpus australiensis Australian Cashew Nut
Terminalia catappa Sea Almond

Spices

Eucalyptus staigeriana Lemon Ironbark
Melaleuca leucadendron Weeping Paperbark
Ocimum tenuiflorum Native Basil

Central Australia

Arid and semi-arid zones of the low rainfall interior.

Fruits

Capparis spp. Native Caper, Caperbush
Capparis mitchelii Wild orange
Capparis spinosa
ssp. nummularia
Wild passionfruit
Carissa lanceolata Bush plum, Conkerberry
Citrus glauca Desert Lime
Enchylaena tormentosa Ruby Saltbush
Ficus platypoda Desert Fig
Marsdenia australis Doubah, Bush Banana
Owenia acidula Emu Apple
Santalum acuminatum Desert Quandong
Santalum lanceolatum Northern Sandalwood
Solanum centrale Akudjura, Australian Desert Raisin, Bush tomato
Solanum cleistogarnum Bush tomato
Solanum ellipticum Bush tomato

Vegetables

Calandrinia balonensis Parakeelya
Ipomoea costata Bush potato
Vigna lanceolata Pencil Yam
Lepidium spp. Peppercresses
Portulaca intraterranea Large Pigweed

Spices

Eucalyptus polybractea Blue-leaved Mallee

Seeds

Acacia aneura Mulga
Acacia colei
Acacia coriacea Dogwood
Acacia holosericea Strap Wattle
Acacia kempeana Witchetty Bush
Acacia murrayana
Acacia pycantha
Acacia retinodes
Acacia tetragonophylla Dead finish seed
Acacia victoriae Gundabluey, Prickly wattle
Brachychiton populneus Kurrajong
Panicum decompositum native millet
Portulaca oleracea Pigweed
Triodia spp. commonly known as spinifex

Insects in gall

Bush coconut

Mulga apple

Eastern Australia

Subtropical rainforests of New South Wales to the wet tropics of Northern Queensland.

Fruit

Acronychia acidula Lemon Aspen
Acronychia oblongifolia White Aspen
Antidesma bunius Herbet River Cherry
Archirhodomyrtus beckleri Rose Myrtle
Austromyrtus dulcis Midyim
Carpobrotus glaucescens Pigface
Citrus australasica Finger Lime
Citrus australis Dooja
Davidsonia jerseyana New South Wales Davidson's Plum
Davidsonia johnsonii Smooth Davidsonia
Davidsonia pruriens North Queensland Davidson's Plum
Diploglottis campbellii Small-leaf Tamarind
Eupomatia laurina Bolwarra
Ficus coronata Sandpaper Fig
Melodorum leichhardtii Zig Zag Vine
Pleiogynium timorense Burdekin Plum
Podocarpus elatus Illawarra Plum
Planchonella australis Black Apple
Rubus hillii Broad-leaf Bramble
Rubus probus Atherton Raspberry
Rubus rosifolius Rose-leaf Bramble
Sambucus australasica Yellow Elderberry
Syzygium fibrosum Fibrous Satinash
Syzygium luehmannii Riberry
Ximenia americana Yellow Plum

Vegetable

Geitonoplesium cymosum Scrambling Lily
Tetragonia tetragonoides Warrigal Greens
Trachymene incisa Wild Parsnip

Spices

Alpinia coerulea Native Ginger
Backhousia citriodora Lemon Myrtle
Backhousia myrtifolia Cinnamon Myrtle
Prostanthera incisa Cut-leaf Mintbush
Syzygium anisatum aniseed myrtle
Tasmannia stipitata Dorrigo pepper (leaf and pepperberry)

Nut

Araucaria bidwillii Bunya Nut
Athertonia diversifolius Atherton Almond
Macadamia integrifolia Macadamia Nut
Macadamia tetraphylla Bush Nut
Sterculia quadrifida Peanut Tree



Temperate

Warm and cool temperate zones of southern Australia, including Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria and the highlands of New South Wales.


Fruit

Acrotriche depressa Native Currant
Billarderia cymosa Sweet Apple-berry
Billarderia longiflora Purple Apple-berry
Billarderia scandens Common Apple-berry
Carpobrotus rossii Karkalla
Eustrephus latifolius Wombat berry
Exocarpus cupressiformis Native Cherry
Gaultheria hispida Snow Berry
Kunzea pomifera Muntries
Rubus parvifolius Pink-flowered Native Raspberry
Sambucus gaudichaudiana White Elderberry

Seed

Acacia longifolia Golden Rods
Acacia sophorae Coast Wattle

Spice

Eucalyptus dives Peppermint Gum
Eucalyptus olida Strawberry Gum
Eucalyptus globulus Tasmanian Blue Gum
Mentha australis River Mint
Prostanthera rotundifolia Native Thyme
Tasmannia lanceolata Mountain pepper
Tasmannia stipitata Dorrigo Pepper
Tasmannia xerophila Alpine Pepper

Vegetable

Apium insulare Flinders Island Celery
Atriplex cinerea Grey Saltbush
Burchardia umbellata Milkmaids
Microseris scapigera Murnong


See also

External links


References

  • Bruneteau, Jean-Paul, Tukka, Real Australian Food, ISBN 0-207-18966-8.
  • Cherikoff, Vic, The Bushfood Handbook, ISBN 0-7316-6904-5.
  • Issacs, Jennifer, Bushfood, Weldons, Sydney.
  • Kersh, Jennice and Raymond, Edna's Table, ISBN 0-7336-0539-7.
  • Low, Tim, Wild Food Plants of Australia, ISBN-13: 978-0207143830