Aboriginal Australian Cooking
Bush Tucker
- The Epicentre - Bush Tucker
Full desription of "herbs, spices, mushrooms, fruits, flowers, vegetables, animals, birds, reptiles and insects" native in Australia and fully edible. An amazing list for those that have never been to Australia. - WATTLESEED PAVLOVA
A delicious recipe for pavlova.
Bush Tucker - Traditional Aboriginal Diets
Australian Aboriginals have a tradition of their own unique cooking methods, most of the originating in and around outdoor fires. Boiling and barbecuing are newer techniques learned. Aboriginals ate a balanced diet before the invasion of the British Crown, including seasonal fruits, nuts, roots vegetables, wattles, other plant food, many types of meats, and seafood.
The advent of Western culture infringed on Aboriginal diets to some extent. The diet is known as bush tucker. Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals still hunt for turtles, fish, crabs, dugong, mudshells, oysters and other edible animals in the seas. This includes sharks and stingrays from time to time. Out of the bush, they bring fruit and game animals like goanna lizards, pigs, wallabies, kangaroos, possums, and others.
Golden Wattle, National Flower
NATURAL FOOD PLANTS
Abotignal diets have included a variety of plant food, but the wattle is very well know. The wattle grows throughout Australia and has occurred in at least 100 species used by various Aboriginal groups.
Aboriginals use wattles and other plants in three major ways - 1) food, 2) medicine and 2) materials (tools, weapons, Boomerangs, fibre fishing nets, building materials). A few wattles are fully multipurpose in all of these ways and as such, would please chef Alton Brown very much. These wattles are the mulga, the earpod wattle, and the strap wattle.
Seeds: Wattles have been a popular food from 20+ species. Some were collected and ground into flour. Mixed with water, it was eaten as a paste, like poi, or cooked over hot ash on a griddle or other piece of metal. Other seeds are roasted in the pod, and some pods are eaten while.
Plant Gums: Many wattles produce a kind of gum naturally or as an immune-type response to physical damage.. The gum of several wattle species is edible. For some Aboriginal groups this was a child's snack food. Dissolved in water, the gum makes a drink and can be sweetened with nectar.
Roots: Young wattle roots are better than older roots for food and are generally roasted over a fire. Occasionally, grubs found with the roots and other parts of the plant - especially some pods - are consumed as well.
Marine Sea Squirt
Other Food Plants
Cunjevoi in New South Wales - starchy and fibrous, they are POISONOUS when raw. The Aborigines put these stems through repeated roasting and pounding to remove poisons.
NOTE: The word Cunjevoi is present in 3 different species. Of these 3, 2 are plants of the family Araceae and genus Alocasia and are related to each other. The 3rd is sea animal named Pyura stolonifera. AS an Aboriginal name for the marine animal, ir represents a formerly usual food source in Sydney. However, it is more popular as fishing bait.
Bunya Pine, originally from Queensland - Its large green cones, contain hard-shelled nuts. They have been very popular. Many are fire roasted and shared with visitors, although they can be boiled as well.
Rock Orchid in New South Wales - Stems were beaten to break up fibres, then cooked on hot clay stones.
Gymea Lily in New South Wales - The 13-foot tall stems were cut young in to 20-inch spears that were very thick. Then they were roasted. The roots were roasted and made into a cake. A single plant provided food for a large group.
Burrawangs in New South Wales, The Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia - POISONOUS - The seeds appear in large cones and have an orange outer coat. Aborigines cooked the large amounts of seeds available from a single plant, broke them up, and soaked them for three weeks in running water. In Western Australia, only the outer red part was edible and only after being washed and buried for a time.
Yam-Daisy in New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia - A radish-like tuber, it grows back every year (perennial). Springtime brings out a yellow flower like a dandelion and in summer the leaves fall while the plant becomes dormant. The tubers have been cooked in baskets in ground ovens, making a sweet juice. Sheep grazing has reduced this plant to almost endangered levels in some areas.
Aboriginal Chef Mark Olive
Cooking magpie geese in ground oven in Arnhem Land
Indigenous Cooking
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Traditional Cooking Methods
Roasting Over Hot Wood Coals
Fires were built over which to cook a variety of animal meats and plants. Roasting has been used to cook game such as meat, fish, manatee-like dugongs, and turtles. Often, the meat was covered in coals and ashes until completely cooked. For kangaroo meat, fur was singed off in the fire. Then the body would be, gutted and the last fur scraped off, and the body returned to the coals to complete cooking.
Smaller game cooked more quickly; the kangaroo may not have cooked past medium doneness before the fire went out. In addition, partially cooked kangaroo blood was sometimes drunk as as a delicacy, usually by the men. Some shellfish cooked briefly on coals at the sides of the fire so they could be easily removed first. However cockles (like clams) were mounded up and fire and coals covered them so that the shells would pop open when done.
Today, frying pans are often used over outdoor fires and aluminum foil is often used to wrap food.
Baking In Wood Ashes
Bread were baked in the ashes of the fires. Different woods were used for different foods, because they added their own tastes and some of them not very good. Wattles usually baked in the ashes rather well and witchetty grubs on some wattles required a brief roll across hot ashes to cook. Goanna lizards were put onto the heated ground under the ashes and covered additional ash Then Aboriginals scooped out ashes to make depressions in which to cook yams and other vegetables. These were covered with additional ashes and coals until cooked.
Ground Ovens
The old ground ovens dug by ancient Aboriginal tribes are still in existence. They were formed by digging pits about 4 feet long and 2 ½ - 3 feet deep and removing any clay. Firewood was placed into the pit and the clay was laid back on top of the wood in balls or lumps. The hot pieces of clay were removed with sticks. The pit was swept clean lined with green leaves or grasses. Then small game animals were laid on top, covered by green grass and weighted down with the hot clay. Then the whole arrangement was buried in dirt and this caused the game animals to steam cook. Pigs, possums, and goanna lizards are buried in pits and cook in a couple of hours or longer.
In the well-known Arnhem Land, the thin bark from Melaleuca (tea tree) trees remains an often-used cooking method for vegetables and meat in ground ovens. This is similar to cooking methods of Africa and Hawaii and other regions that use large green leaves, like banana leaves for such pit cooking.
The Australian Bush
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Newer Cooking Methods
Boiling
Aborigines have learned to boil foods in metal cans and large drums for large communities, aluminium pots, and cast iron cooking pans and skillets.
These cooking pieces have replaced the ground oven in some Aboriginal regions, bit some oven are still used. Kangaroo legs (large) are boiled in pots and one can see feet and claws hanging over edges of cook pots in remote camps - strange at first sight.
Meat and seafood juices are kept after boiling and used for rice stew, like western chicken stock.
Barbecuing
Barbecuing has become popular. A metal coat hanger, a piece of wire, or a long cookout fork holds meat or breads dough over wood coals, much like roasting hotdogs over a campfire..
Aborigines of Oceana Links
- Aboriginals of Australia
A presentation of the history, culture, controversial origins, Spirit Ancestors, and the Human Migration Program.
- Aboriginals of New Zealand
Migrations patterns, culture, and histories of the Maori, with links, videos, and photos.
- Aboriginals of New Guinea and Small Islands
Controversial infromation from the Human Migration Program links these peoples with Africa and North America. Genetic data and cultural videos.
- Famous Aborigines
Eight Aborigines that have made a difference in the world.
- Aboriginal Australian Cooking
A very interesting history, discussion of Bush Tucker, old and new of cooking techniques, and some recipes.
Comments & Additions
excellent hub, I am interested in edible wild plants.
I am fascinated by the variety of edible plants and the methods of cooking game and fish. It is a different world.
Thanks for visiting, Graceful Guardian and Bob Ewing!
great hub this one! This type of cooking should bring a lot of health.
I agree jobixk. No fast food could be as healthy as all of these natural products. Thanks for your comments!
Hi Patty,
Great Hub, yet again!
There are two cunjevoi - one animal, one plant. The plant is native to Queensland and South East Asia, and can extend into the northern part of NSW.
The animal is native to the NSW and Queensland coasts.
If you have a reference to Aboriginals eating cunjevoi in NSW, chances are it is the animal - see Australian Museum website: http://www.faunanet.gov.au/wos/factfile.cfm?Fact_I
Oh, thanks, I found it now on a research site as well as your link - the sea squirt. I had wondered where those resided. I've added pictures of both.
I'd been reading a theses on file with the govt on Aboriginal plant foods, confirmed by a few websites. One site was worded so that it sounded as though the plant was in NSW, but skipped most of Qeensland and appeared only in the north. I would not be surprised if people do sometimes confuse plant and animal, in the way some folks confuse the sea cucumber (animal) with plant cucumbers here.
Best regards!
We call the burying in the pit a Pit Barbeque in the U.S.,Maybe the origination came from Australia.
Hello firead45! Maybe you are correct. :)
Very nice and well made!
Aboriginl knowledge about every single plant and animal was/is truly amazing! I am sure we know less than 1% of what they had known and had used every day.
Having lived in the goldfields we have eaten some of that bush tucker and it tastes great. We used to cook in (you said ground ovens) we used to call the camp ovens. the food tastes so good. We have eaten goat, kangaroo, emu, done in them. Thanks for sharing this and reminding me of those good days
Agreed! This is definitely a healthier way of eating.
Thank you all for visiting and commenting.
I like goat meat, but not the milk or cheese - is it an acquired taste; the aroma getrs to me? I've had emu jerky that was quite good. The plant foods sound wonderful to me.
But, I think I don't want to eat a sea squirt. :)
This all reminds me that our Zoo's former Director Jack Hanna's daughter had cancer as a child and was cured with a treatment made from a small flower discovered at that time. Nature is a miracle!
Thanks Decrescendo! I used to wrap potatoes and squash in foil and place them in the campfire, but I want to try as many vegetables as possible now - sweet potatoes abd perhaps turnips would be good. Onions are great, done this way too! Now I'M hungry too!
I'm interested to see if a modern Australia takes on more of the appreciation for its Aboriginal people that can be seen in the respect for the Maori culture that Kiwis exhibit. My younger friends in Sydney were all part of that shift. :) And like many other cultures, food brings people together. I guess we could use an authentic bush tucker restaurant in The Rocks, or Circular Quay! :)
I would go to such a restaurant, JarrodHaze and you are right about food joining people together. we'll keep looking to Australia for news. :)
Don't know if I could eat Kangaroo or Lizard, but the other foods sound interesting. Very, very good article. Thanks.
I'm not sure I would eat a kangaroo, either, after seeing so many at the zoo, in films and on tv, including a documentary about an Australian gentlemen in one area of the country that operated a ranch to save them, because they were being shot for vermin. I could eat a lizard, because I don't know any. :)
I received a baby chick for Easter once as a child - then it was sent to my uncle's farm. He fed it to us for dinner the next spring and told us only afterward that it was my chicken. He thought it was funny. I only had it for one afternoon and forgotten it, but I thought he was very strange. I ignored him and everyone stopped laughing and stared at me, so I said,"So?" and shrugged. Turns out he was abusive to many people. We pretty much stayed away from him after that dinner. So, no eating animals I know I guess. :)
This is the first time I am reading about Aboriginal food, they have diverse diet. Glad to see how they utilize the nature products well, if only we do the same instead of using too many synthetic foods.
I agree. One friend has used so many already-prepared foods that she has chronic illnesses. way too much salt, sugar, and chemicals.
Wonderful hub. I know so little of your homeland. Thanks for painting a beautiful, vivid picture.
In 1980, my mother spent a month in Australia and New Zealand, and came back with wonderful experiences of the heritage, culture, and cuisine. Her most cherished memory is the friendliness and warm welcoming of the people. Perhaps I will visit some day.
Many times I wish to live in Australia, but have never been ther e- I have benefitted from many friends living there, including teachers, and from their sharing pictures, videos, and information. I also access Australin University databases and research.
We have many fine people on Hub Pages that live in Australia, though!
Thanks for visiting, Sally's Trove!
OOps...yes, it is in your profile..you are from America. You spoke with such sentiment and feeling...well, one of those brain things on my part! And a testiment to how your writing engages.
Thanks for the nice words about my writing. I do try to know what I'm writing about! heehee :)
Hi Patty! This is really interesting and useful information - I am very keen on finding out about natural foods from the wild and have written a series for Permaculture magazine on foraging. I am halfway through writing a book on the wild foods and herbs of the Canary Islands. I have a friend at Myspace who posts as Grog Eater of Weeds and he is very knowledgeable on the plants that can be eaten in America.
Greetings, Bard of Ely!
Thank you for all of that information. I want to read all of your work and your friends. I will immediately look up Friend Grog. What fun!
This is such a great hub! As an Australian I also have a strong interest in our Indigenous population. It is great to see other people also taking an interest!
Thanks Vanessa! I thnk this is all very interesting indeed. If you have some favorite recipes related to Australia, I'n sure people would be very interested.
Great stuff Patty! There's such a wealth of knowledge in this culture, and some of the indigenous food is so rich in anti-oxidants. I sampled a health product just the other day that was based solely on traditional foods and tasted awesome.
Lifebydesign! - Thanks for visiting. I am finding fascinating material about these indigenous peoples and I think they can teach us a lot. It's overwhelming really.
Amazing Patty: an aboriginal recipe hub! Positively delightful.
Thanks very much, CJStone! I enjoy looking into natural foods, and plants for food and medicine. Much fun and joy in it.
well very nice love it
i need to know how aborigines cook the turtles.
If you have an Australian Embassy in your country, you could contact them. Sometimes embassies have food and preparation info.
I love turtles, not to eat, although I do know that some australian kooris do eat turtle as part of their traditional food.
Lovely writing and a topic I love.
Great hub and well written
I really liked this hub, very well written and I can tell theres a lot of passion behind it. I love cooking in terms of culture and going back to your roots (or others roots) in order to get the full experience of cooking the dish.
I really enjoyed this, do write more :)
I tired of a lot of American food long ago and started looking around. A lot of fun and good food are out there.
i love this hub. very informational and something i'm definitely interested in.
It's always a fascination to me to peruse through some of the myriad food options that come from so many different cultures. You know, in America we get stuck (and I don't mean that in a TOTALLY negative way the way it may sound) getting to eat only a select number of things. Meat especially, for example, unless you're a game hunter, is very limited. We get chicken, beef, and pork. That's it. You can BUY other animal meats, but you'd better bring a large wallet with you.
It might be interesting, though I'm not sure how well that might go over here, to see an aboriginal cuisine restaurant open up?
I'd at least give it a go.
Well written hub. I can't fault any of the information you have given. Voted up and useful. Thanks
this is a good as wibsite
Graceful Guardian 4 years ago
I really like that hub,I have some books on edible and medicinal plants of north America.Very interesting hub.