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Foraging
Bushfood
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Bushfood

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Not to be confused with Bushmeat.

Bush tucker
Australian bush tucker, Alice Springs.jpg
Bush tucker in Alice Springs
Country or region Australia
Ethnic group Indigenous Australians

Bush tucker, also called bush food, is any food native to Australia and used as sustenance by Indigenous Australians, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but it can also describe any native flora or fauna used for culinary or medicinal purposes, regardless of the continent or culture. Animal native foods include kangaroo, emu, witchetty grubs and crocodile, and plant foods include fruits such as quandong, kutjera, spices such as lemon myrtle and vegetables such as warrigal greens and various native yams.

Traditional Indigenous Australians' use of bushfoods has been severely affected by the settlement of Australia in 1788 and subsequent settlement by non-Indigenous peoples. The introduction of non-native foods, together with the loss of traditional lands, resulting in reduced access to native foods by Aboriginal people, and destruction of native habitat for agriculture, has accentuated the reduction in use.

Since the 1970s, there has been recognition of the nutritional and gourmet value of native foods by non-Indigenous Australians, and the bushfood industry has grown enormously. Kangaroo meat has been available in supermarkets since the 1980s, and many other foods are sold in restaurants or packaged as gourmet foods, which has led to expansion of commercial cultivation of native food crops.

History

Aboriginal Australians have eaten native animal and plant foods for an estimated 60,000 years of human habitation on the Australian continent, using various traditional methods of processing and cooking. An estimated 5,000 species of native food were used by Aboriginal peoples. With much of it unsafe or unpalatable raw, a variety of methods were employed to render the various foods edible, such as cooking on open fires (meat) or boiling in bark containers. They would pound vegetables and seeds, or hang them in bags in running water.

Colonisation

Billardiera scandens

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

Especially in the more densely colonised areas of south-eastern Australia, the introduction of non-native foods to Aboriginal people resulted in an almost complete abandonment of native foods by them. This impact on traditional foods was further accentuated by the loss of traditional lands, which has resulted in reduced access to native foods by Aboriginal people, and destruction of native habitat for agriculture.

The 19th century English botanist, Joseph Dalton Hooker, writing of Australian plants in remarked although "eatable," are not "fit to eat". In 1889, botanist Joseph Maiden reiterated this sentiment with the comment on native food plants "nothing to boast of as eatables." The first monograph to be published on the flora of Australia reported the lack of edible plants on the first page, where it presented Billardiera scandens as, "... almost the only wild eatable fruit of the country".

Modern use

Further information: History of the bushfood industry

Apart from the macadamia nut, with the first small-scale commercial plantation being planted in Australia in the 1880s, no native food plants were produced commercially until the 1990s. The macadamia was the only Australian native plant food developed and cropped on a large scale, but Hawaii was where the macadamia was commercially developed to its greatest extent, from stock imported from Australia.

From the 1970s non-Indigenous Australians began to recognise the previously overlooked native Australian foods. Textbooks such as Wildfoods in Australia (1981) by the botanist couple Alan and Joan Cribb were popular. In the late 1970s horticulturists started to assess native food-plants for commercial use and cultivation.

In 1980 South Australia legalised the sale of kangaroo meat for human consumption, and it is now commonly found in supermarkets and prized for its nutritional value as a lean meat. Analysis shows that a variety of bushfoods are exceptionally nutritious. In the mid-1980s, several Sydney restaurants began using native Australian ingredients in recipes more familiar to non-Indigenous tastes – providing the first opportunity for bushfoods to be tried by non-Indigenous Australians on a serious gourmet level. This led to the realisation that many strongly flavoured native food plants have spice-like qualities.

Following popular TV programs on "bush tucker", a surge in interest in the late 1980s saw the publication of books like Bushfood: Aboriginal Food and Herbal Medicine by Jennifer Isaacs, The Bushfood Handbook and Uniquely Australian by Vic Cherikoff, and Wild Food Plants of Australia by Tim Low.

An advantage of growing the native foods is that they are well adapted to Australia's environment, in particular at the extreme ends, they are ecologically sound. Bush tucker ingredients were initially harvested from the wild, but cultivated sources have become increasingly important to provide sustainable supplies for a growing market, with some Aboriginal communities also involved in the supply chain. However, despite the industry being founded on Aboriginal knowledge of the plants, Aboriginal participation in the commercial sale of bush tucker is currently still marginal, and mostly at the supply end of value chains. Organisations are working to increase Aboriginal participation in the bush tucker market. Gourmet style processed food and dried food have been developed for the domestic and export markets.

The term "bushfood" is one of several terms describing native Australian food, evolving from the older-style "bush tucker" which was used in the 1970s and 1980s.

In the 21st century, many restaurants are serving emu, crocodile, yabbies and locally sourced eels, and using native plant spices for flavour. Producers have sprung up across the country to serve the new markets, including Tasmanian pepper, Victorian eel farms and South Australian plantations of quandongs, bush tomatoes, and native citrus.

In 2020, researchers at the University of Queensland were researching a fruit native to Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Buchanania obovata, known as the green plum. Eaten for more than 53,000 years but previously little-known among non-Indigenous people, the scientists learnt about the plum from people at the remote community of Yirrkala. It is harvested some time after the Kakadu plum harvests. Nutritional analysis showed high levels of protein, dietary fibre and the minerals potassium, phosphorus and magnesium. In addition, the folate level is among the highest of commercially available fruits. Its potential as a commercial crop for Indigenous communities is being investigated.

Types of foods

Further information: Indigenous Australian food groups and Australian Aboriginal sweet foods

Toxic seeds, such as Cycas media and Moreton Bay chestnut, 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 Melaleuca species, is widely used for wrapping food placed in ground ovens. Bush bread such as "Johnny cakes" were made by males using many types of seeds, nuts and corns to process a flour or dough. Some animals such as kangaroos, were cooked in their own skin and others such as turtles, were cooked in their own shells.

Kangaroo is quite common and can be found in Australian supermarkets, often cheaper than beef. Other animals, for example jimba, emu, goanna and witchetty grubs, are eaten by Aboriginal Australians. Fish and shellfish are culinary features of the Australian coastal communities.

Examples of Australian native plant foods include the fruits quandong, kutjera, muntries, riberry, Davidson's plum, and finger lime. Native spices include lemon myrtle, mountain pepper, and the kakadu plum. Various native yams are valued as food, and a popular leafy vegetable is warrigal greens. Nuts include bunya nut, and, the most identifiable bush tucker plant harvested and sold in large-scale commercial quantities, is the macadamia nut. Knowledge of Aboriginal uses of fungi is meagre, but beefsteak fungus and native "bread" (a fungus also), were certainly eaten.

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

Australian bush tucker plants can be divided into several distinct and large regional culinary provinces. Some species listed grow across several climatic boundaries.


Adansonia gregorii boab
Buchanania arborescens sparrow's mango
Citrus gracilisrry
Ficus racemosa cluster fig
Manilkara kauki wongi
Melastoma affine blue tongue
Mimusops elengi tanjong
Morinda citrifolia great morinda
Physalis minima native gooseberry
Terminalia ferdinandiana kakadu plum
Syzygium erythrocalyx Johnstone's River satinash
Syzygium fibrosum fibrous satinash
Syzygium suborbiculare lady apple

Vegetables

Dioscorea alata purple yam
Dioscorea bulbifera round yam
Dioscorea transversa pencil yam, long yam
Eleocharis palustris spikerush
Ipomoea aquatica water spinach
Nelumbo nucifera lotus
Nymphaea macrosperma water lily

Nuts

Cycas media cycad palm seeds (requires detoxification: see Bush bread )
Semecarpus australiensis Australian cashew
Terminalia catappa sea almond

Spices

Eucalyptus staigeriana lemon ironbark
Melaleuca leucadendra weeping paperbark
Melaleuca viridiflora kitcha-kontoo
Ocimum tenuiflorum native basil

Outback Australia

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

Fruits

Desert quandong
Bush tomatoes
Capparis spp. native caper, caperbush
Capparis mitchelii wild orange
Capparis spinosa
subsp. nummularia		 wild passionfruit
Carissa lanceolata bush plum, conkerberry
Citrus glauca desert lime
Enchylaena tomentosa ruby saltbush
Ficus platypoda desert fig
Marsdenia australis doubah, bush banana
Owenia acidula emu apple
Santalum acuminatum quandong, desert or sweet quandong
Santalum murrayanum bitter quandong
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 yams
Lepidium spp. peppercresses
Portulaca intraterranea large pigweed

Seeds

Acacia aneura mulga
Acacia colei
Acacia coriacea dogwood
Acacia holosericea strap wattle
Acacia kempeana witchetty bush
Acacia murrayana
Acacia pycnantha
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

Spices

Eucalyptus polybractea blue-leaved mallee

Insects in gall

Eastern Australia

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

Fruit

Lemon aspen
Finger lime
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
Pandanus tectorius Hala fruit
Pleiogynium timoriense Burdekin plum
Podocarpus elatus Illawarra plum
Planchonella australis black apple
Rubus moluccanus broad-leaf bramble
Rubus probus Atherton raspberry
Rubus rosifolius rose-leaf bramble
Syzygium australe brush cherry
Syzygium luehmannii riberry
Syzygium paniculatum magenta lilly pilly
Ximenia americana yellow plum

Vegetable

Apium prostratum sea celery
Commelina cyanea scurvy weed
Geitonoplesium cymosum scrambling lily
Tetragonia tetragonoides warrigal greens
Trachymene incisa wild parsnip
Urtica incisa scrub nettle

Spices

Lemon myrtle
Alpinia caerulea native ginger
Backhousia citriodora lemon myrtle
Backhousia myrtifolia cinnamon myrtle
Backhousia anisata aniseed myrtle
Leptospermum liversidgei lemon tea-tree
Prostanthera incisa cut-leaf mintbush, native thyme
Smilax glyciphylla sweet sarsaparilla
Syzygium anisatum aniseed myrtle
Tasmannia stipitata Dorrigo pepper (leaf and pepperberry)

Nut

Araucaria bidwillii bunya nut
Athertonia diversifolia Atherton almond
Macadamia integrifolia macadamia nut
Macadamia tetraphylla bush nut
Sterculia quadrifida peanut tree

Temperate Australia

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

Tasmania

Scientific name Common name Edible part of plant Use Details Citation
Acacia mearnsii Black Wattle Bark Tea Bark can be soaked to make a tea, which is claimed to be good for indigestion.
Kennedia prostrata Running Postman Flower Garnish The nectar from the flowers is edible.
Lomandra longifolia Sagg Flower Garnish Young leaves, flowers and seeds are ideal
Wahlenbergia multicaulis Bushy Bluebell Flower Garnish
Wahlenbergia stricta Flower Garnish
Xanthorrhoea australis Grass Tree Flower Garnish The nectar from the flowers is edible.
Viola hederacea Wild Violet Flower Salad The flowers are edible and can be used in salads.
Astroloma humifusum Native Cranberry Fruit Fruit The berries can be consumed, when ripe.
Astroloma pinifolium Pine Heath Fruit Fruit The berries can be consumed, when ripe.
Billardiera longiflora Mountain Blue Berry Fruit Fruit Edible fruit when ripe
Billardiera scandens Apple Dumplings Fruit Fruit The berries can be consumed, when ripe.
Coprosma nitida Mountain Currant Fruit Fruit The berries can be consumed, when ripe.
Coprosma quadrifida Native Currant Fruit Fruit Edible berries - raw or stewed
Dianella brevicaulis Shortstem Flaxlily Fruit Fruit The berries can be consumed, when ripe.
Dianella revoluta Spreading Flaxlily Fruit Fruit The berries can be consumed, when ripe.
Dianella tasmanica Blue Flax Lily Fruit Fruit The berries can be consumed, when ripe.
Chenopodium nutans (Syn Einardia nutans, Rhagodia nutans) Climbing Saltbush Fruit Fruit The fruit can be consumed, when ripe.
Solanum laciniatum Kangaroo Apple Fruit Fruit Only the very ripe fruit is edible....Note: the green fruit is POISONOUS.
Tasmannia lanceolata Native Pepper Fruit Fruit If the berries are dried, they can be consumed.
Acmena smithii Lilly Pilly Fruit Jam/compote Berries can either be eaten raw or made into a jam or compote.
Carpobrotus rossii Native Pigface Fruit Jam/compote The ripe fruit eaten raw or made into a compote.
Acacia mearnsii Black Wattle Gum Condiment
Eucalyptus gunnii Cider Gum Gum Condiment The gum is sweet and edible.
Lomandra longifolia Sagg Leaf/shoot Salad Consume the young leaves
Phragmites australis Common Reed Leaf/shoot Salad
Suaeda australis Seablite Leaf/shoot Salad
Tasmannia lanceolata Native Pepper Leaf/shoot Salad Dry the leaves before consumption.
Xanthorrhoea australis Grass Tree Leaf/shoot Salad The young leaves can be consumed.
Ozothamnus obcordatus Native Thyme Leaf/shoot Seasoning When the leaves are dried, their taste resembled that of thyme. It can be used as a seasoning.
Correa alba White Correa Leaf/shoot Tea The leave may be used to prepare a tea.
Hardenbergia violacea Sarsparilla Vine Leaf/shoot Tea In order to make a tea, the leaves need to be initially boiled, then dried.
Kunzea ambigua White Kunzea Leaf/shoot Tea A refreshing tea can be made from the dried leaves.
Atriplex cinerea Grey Saltbush Leaf/shoot Vegetable In order to remove some of the salt from the leaves, the leaves need to be thoroughly soaked in water. After rinsing, the leaves can be used as a type of vegetable / salad.
Tetragonia implexicoma Bower Spinach Leaf/shoot Vegetable The leaves are edible in both a raw or cooked state.
Cycnogeton procerum (formerly Triglochin procera) Water Ribbons Leaf/shoot Vegetable The leaves are edible in both a raw or cooked state.
Typha domingensis Bulrush Leaf/shoot Salad Consume the young shoots from the plant.
Typha orientalis Broad-leafed Bulrush Leaf/shoot Salad Consume the young shoots from the plant.
Arthropodium milleflorum Vanilla Lily Root/tuber/bulb Vegetable The tubers can be consumed in both a raw or roasted state.
Arthropodium strictum Chocolate Lily Root/tuber/bulb Vegetable The tubers can be consumed in both a raw or roasted state. NOTE: the chocolate scented flowers are NOT edible, however.
Bolboschoenus caldwellii Sea Clubsedge Root/tuber/bulb Vegetable The roots are edible once they've been roasted.
Bulbine bulbosa Golden Rock Lily Root/tuber/bulb Vegetable The bulb of the plant can be consumed after it has been roasted. It is particularly nutritious.
Burchardia umbellata Milk Maids Root/tuber/bulb Vegetable The tuber of the plant can be consumed once it has been roasted.
Clematis aristata Travellers Joy Root/tuber/bulb Vegetable Once the taproot has been roasted, it is edible.
Clematis microphylla Small Leaf Clematis Root/tuber/bulb Vegetable Once the taproot has been roasted, it is edible.
Convolvulus angustissimus Pink Moonflower Root/tuber/bulb Vegetable Once the taproot has been roasted, it is edible.
Eleocharis sphacelata Tall Rush Spike Root/tuber/bulb Vegetable The roots are edible
Geranium solanderi Southern cranesbill Root/tuber/bulb Vegetable Once the taproot has been roasted, it is edible.
Microseris walteri Yam Daisy, Murnong Root/tuber/bulb Vegetable The tubers can be consumed in both a raw or roasted state.
Phragmites australis Common Reed Root/tuber/bulb Vegetable
Xanthorrhoea australis Grass Tree Root/tuber/bulb Vegetable The young roots are edible
Typha domingensis Bulrush Root/tuber/bulb Vegetable
Typha orientalis Broad-leafed Bulrush Root/tuber/bulb Vegetable
Dodonaea viscosa Native Hop Seed Alcohol Seeds can be used instead of hops to brew beer
Acacia melanoxylon Blackwood Seed Nuts
Acacia retinodes Wirilda Seed Nuts Both the seeds and green pods can be consumed.
Acacia sophorae Boobyalla/Coast Wattle Seed Nuts The seeds can be consumed in both the raw or roasted state.
Brachychiton populneus Kurrajong (Tas prov) Seed Nuts The seeds of this plant are particularly nutritious. The seeds can be consumed in both the raw or roasted state.
Lomandra longifolia Sagg Seed Nuts
Phragmites australis Common Reed Seed Nuts
Acacia mearnsii Black Wattle Seed Nuts
Sarcocornia quinqueflora Samphire or Glasswort Stem Fibre Consumption of the younger stems of the plant is suggested
Phragmites australis Common Reed Stem Fibre

Fruit

Acrotriche depressa native currant
Billardiera cymosa sweet apple-berry
Billardiera longiflora purple apple-berry
Billardiera scandens common apple-berry
Carpobrotus rossii karkalla
Exocarpus cupressiformis native cherry
Gaultheria hispida snow berry
Kunzea pomifera muntries
Rubus parvifolius pink-flowered native raspberry
Sambucus gaudichaudiana white elderberry
Enchylaena tomentosa ruby saltbush

Seed

Seeds of Acacia longifolia
Acacia longifolia golden rods
Acacia sophorae coast wattle (All Acacia seeds can be ground into a bush flour.)

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

Vegetable

Apium insulare Flinders Island celery
Atriplex cinerea grey saltbush
Burchardia umbellata milkmaids
Eustrephus latifolius wombat berry
Microseris walteri murnong

Leaf

Neptune's necklace (the beady seaweed) - the beads are pierced to get rid of the salt water before being cooked
Warrigal greens - tastes like spinach, pest-resistant and spreads easily
Coast sword-sedge – the leaf bases can be eaten raw or roasted

In the media

TV shows made use of the bush tucker 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 popularised the idea of bush tucker as an interesting food resource. He presented a hit TV series called The 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. 'NORFORCE' is a Regional Force Surveillance Unit of the Australian Army Reserve.

Starting in 2002, I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! became notorious for its "Bushtucker Trials", some of which involved eating meat based bush tucker (such as mealworms, locusts and kangaroo testicles) to win meals for the camp.

In early 2003, the first cooking show featuring authentic Australian foods and called Dining Downunder was produced by Vic Cherikoff and Bailey Park Productions of Toronto, Canada. This was followed by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) production of Message Stick with Aboriginal chef, Mark Olive.

In 2008 Ray Mears made a survival television series called Ray Mears Goes Walkabout, which focused on the history of survival in Australia with a focus on bush tucker. In the series, Les Hiddins was a guest in one episode, with the two men sharing their knowledge and discussing various aspects of bush tucker.

In the TV survival series Survivorman, host and narrator Les Stroud spent time in the Australian outback. After successfully finding and eating a witchetty grub raw he found many more and cooked them, stating they were much better cooked. After cooking in hot embers of his fire, he removed the head and the hind of the grub and squeezed out thick yellow liquid before eating.

The SBS documentary series Food Safari featured bush tucker in an episode that went to air in 2013.

See also

Sources

Further reading



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