Mod Oz food is everywhere in restaurants and cafes, but 'old Oz' has been around for centuries (maybe many thousands of years). After all, in the beginning, the only food eaten by indigenous Australians was 'bush tucker' - food that hopped, crawled, slithered or grew in this country.
Sadly there has been cultural amnesia in the past two hundred years. Many Australians, especially those who have not grown up in the country, simply do not appreciate the wealth of natural food stuffs available to us. We have a virtual pantry full of it growing right under our noses, yet most of us would not have a clue about how to use it.
Now, we're not suggesting you go out and start nibbling at the bushes and berries and seed pods on the nature strip. It took the original owners of this land a mere 30,000 years or so to get the hang of what was safe to use - and what was not.
The ideal way to find out for sure is to hook up with someone who knows. In many cases this will be an indigenous person, or a community of them, and you can feel very safe if they tell you that something is 'good tucker'.
In recent years, throughout the country, a range of bush food and medicine walks have begun. Most tours last for a couple of hours maximum, many allow you to sniff, taste and pick the native plants, and all will have you gasping with admiration of the knowledge and ingenuity of the indigenous peoples who discovered the values of these plants for themselves.
Make sure you take advantage of one, next time you are in the bush. It's a way you can really touch this country's heart. Or do we mean its stomach?
Right in Sydney, the Royal Botanic Gardens conducts bush tucker tours. John Lennas is an Aboriginal Education officer who guides groups around the many native food plants in the gardens. Frances Bodkin, herself of aboriginal descent, also conducts tours at the high altitude Mt Annan gardens as well as in Sydney. Call the Royal Botanic Gardens Community Education, (02) 9231 8134/8050, and ask when tours will run or visit www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au One hour tours on arrangement, are $16.50 pp for groups of five or more. Bookings essential.
Or you may simply choose to experience Cadi Jam Ora: First Encounters for yourself on a self-guided tour (a map is available on site, or downloadable from the website). Find out what this site meant to the Cadigal, the original inhabitants of the Sydney city area, and what it means to Aboriginal people today.
On the Central Coast, Coastal Ecotours (Australia) are run by Wayne Peters, (02) 4344 3392 (wambo@ozemail.com.au) according to demand. Peters is passionate about sharing the local scene with people who come on his tours. The bush medicine and bush tucker tours are based in the Hawkesbury and Hunter national parks and coastal reserves, rainforest valleys and aboriginal dreaming trails.
At Ulladulla, south of Sydney at Giriwa Garuwanga Arts & Crafts, daily tours are available from Coomee Nulunga Cultural Tours. Shane Carriage, (02) 4455 5883, an Aboriginal Lands Council Member, can arrange for an aboriginal guide to lead bush tucker and bush medicine tours, with picnic lunches available occasionally for groups. Bookings essential. (budamurra@tom.asn.au).
Not far away, at Wreck Bay, Barry's Bushtucker Tours (Barry Moore, (02) 4442 1168) is the tour leader. Barry can show you the bush world through Aboriginal eyes, and point out bush tucker plants that have provided food and medicine for Koories in the area for thousands of years.
The Mungabareena Ngan Girra Festival, (02) 6040 1718, is held annually on the Mungabareena Reserve, Albury, on the last Saturday in November. Organised by the Albury Wodonga Aboriginal Corporation, the festival (formerly the Bogong Moths Festival) features art displays, bush tucker, BBQs, talks on aboriginal history, as well as cultural activities, bush medicines, and bush bands.
Koori Cuisine, run by the Cooramah Aboriginal Corporation, (02) 6732 5960 in Glen Innes (cooramah@northnet.com.au) serves lunch daily in the café and the cultural centre also arranges bush tucker tours.
John Sommerlad's Woollool Woollool Aboriginal Cultural Tours, (02) 6736 3209, originated in Tenterfield on the northern tablelands and includes morning tea and lunch. It points out and explains the use of bush tucker plants.
The Goondee Aboriginal Keeping Place, (02) 6829 1343, at Lightning Ridge is a traditional 'Keeping Place', protecting the history and culture of aboriginal memorabilia. Aboriginal cultural talks include Dreamtime stories, and often introduce traditional medicines and bush tucker. There is a display and sometimes an opportunity to gather some bush foods.
Gringai Aboriginal Culture (02) 6571 2549, at Singleton (gringai@abtrade.com.au) conducts bush tucker tours at nearby Eaglereach Resort, mainly for guests. The tour lasts about an hour, and there is a dance performance, tastings of bush food and a didgeridoo player.
Bush tucker lunches, billy herb tea, cultural displays and tours are all provided by Wigay Aboriginal Cultural Park, (02) 6566 2332, at Kempsey on the north coast, daily, by appointment (ren.perkins@tafensw.edu.au).
Rainforest Secrets, owned by the Marshall Family (02) 6677 1215, at Mooball in the far north of the state, (info@rainforestsecrets.com.au) has been in the family for four generations. There are farm tours, a wildlife walkabout area and rainforest walks, plus a regeneration trail, a bush tucker trail and a bush medicine trail.
Near Cootamundra, in the Riverina, at Green Tree, (02) 6943 2628 (greentree@storm-harvest.asn.au) the Holmes family have established well over 200 species in the indigenous food gardens which are divided into different zones. A one hour guided tour is available, by appointment, and there are good notes for sale.
4WD
