Arts and Culture
The Aboriginal Food
Bushfire at sunset
The Aboriginal Food. Aboriginal Australians were dubbed the “ultimate foragers.” They lived off the land and ate mostly from their environment, which ranged from the jungle to the desert.
The Australian Aboriginals ate a wide range of plants and animals, including ants, grubs, moths, and beetles, as well as stream fish and eels. Among the birds eaten were waterfowl, scrub fowl, cassowaries, and jabirus.
The yellow fat of a large Australian lizard known as a goanna was a delicacy, and it was also used to preserve the skin from drying out and breaking in owing to the sun’s heat.
Bush Tucker
Australian bush food, commonly known as “bush tucker,” pertains to any food or ingredient that is local to Australia’s lands, whether it is flora or fauna. Much of Australia’s natural bush foods were traditionally used as a source of nourishment by the Aboriginals during the hunter-gatherer era prior to the arrival of westerners.
Bush tucker differs depending on the particular part of the country. A great range of plant and animal species thrive in Australia’s well-watered coastal regions and tropical north, providing adequate food for eating.
Aboriginal people were able to obtain enough sustenance for survival in the arid interior, where there is less variety of animals, populating every area of the continent. Tribes would forage for nutrient-dense and high-fiber items such as native herbs, spices, fruit, seeds, and nuts, and live off the earth.
Animal sources of protein in Australian bush tucker included kangaroo, emu, crocodile, and witchetty grubs. Indigenous Australians were forced to have a vast knowledge of the flora and animals that surrounded them, and it was this knowledge that kept them alive for tens of thousands of years.
Toxicity Warning
The Aboriginals had a deep understanding of their surroundings, as evidenced by the way they used the flora and fauna around them with respect. They learned which vegetation was poisonous to eat, which ones would make good remedies, and which techniques were required to make meals consumable rather than deadly. This was accomplished over several years of observation and experimentation.
If you decide on foraging for bush tucker in the wild, pay attention to the warnings about plant toxicity. It can be difficult to discern which species are which. Do not consume any part of wild-growing vegetation unless you are certain of its identity.
Berries found in the Desert
Ancestral Spirits
In Aboriginal societies, all food has significance. They believe that ancestors Dreaming spirits created the earth, as well as all creatures and vegetation. The Dreaming is a period of time during which everything was created.
Each meal was produced by ancestral spirits; some, like the honey ants of Papunya in Central Australia, are even ancestral souls reincarnated.
Totem foods are meals that have a unique meaning for a certain group of people. It’s possible that these folks won’t be allowed to kill or eat their totems unless they’re part of a particular ceremony.
Most aspects of traditional food-harvesting, cooking, and eating are governed by customs, norms, and religious traditions.
Cooking Methods
Traditional Aboriginal cooking methods included boiling, steaming, roasting, and cooking over open fires or in underground ovens. Seeds, nuts, fruits, and berries, for example, can be consumed uncooked.
Peeled and mashed vegetables and plant foods such as yams and bush potatoes were used. Seeds were typically mashed with water to produce a paste, which could then be eaten raw or cooked as a damper in hot ashes over an open fire. Because some foods were poisonous, they had to be leached in water.
Larger animals were typically roasted over an open fire or buried in hot coals.
Present Day
Some Aboriginal people today live in a totally different way than they did many years ago. The majority of Aboriginal people speak English, dress in western clothing, live in a variety of housing designs, and eat western foods.
Traditional bush cuisine is still eaten by certain Aboriginal people, but the way it is harvested and prepared has evolved. Traditional meals, on the other hand, are still vital and highly valued among Aboriginal communities and families today.
Most Aboriginal people nowadays consume a lot of store-bought prepackaged and/or frozen foods. One cause is convenience, while another is a shortage of adequate hunting land and depleted live food reserves. Food is primarily cooked on electric or gas stoves, barbecues, and microwaves, however, Aboriginal people still have Corroborees and traditional island dancing.
If you would like to learn more about the talented artists of the Western Desert that live in the Northern Territory and Western Australia please visit www.aboriginal-art.com.au, Facebook, Instagram, or email story@aboriginal-art.com.au
Aboriginal-Art is a philanthropic arm of efunder Pty Limited and is a non for profit organization with an initiative to raise funds to support a variety of causes for the Aboriginal communities in the Western Desert.
Judy Corak
Chairperson
Co-Founder of Efunder and Aboriginal-Art