Aboriginal Food and Bush Tucker
Australia's hidden supermarket
Surely everyone would agree that food could be found along Australia's coastline. But how to find food in Australia's Outback? Have you asked yourself how the Aborigines survived for thousands of years in the Outback and what they ate? If you are curious about aboriginal food, then read on!
Sustainable food gathering
Despite the various diets of indigenous people all over Australia, they all have one thing in common. They only take what they need and in a way that every food resource always can regenerate itself, so that it will provide food in future. Due to their nomadic life style they allow the nature time to regenerate, too. A reason for their nomadic life style is that food is not equally available all over the year in the various places. Aboriginal food sources differ over the year according to areas and seasons.
The search for water
For Aboriginal people living in tropical regions or along the coastline it is easy to find fresh water, but it is a different matter for those who live in desert areas. They need to know the locations of waterholes, natural wells and oasis as it was essential for survival. Those locations were and are told to every Aboriginal child in forms of stories and songs to ensure survival.
The book “The last of the Nomads ” from W.J. Peasley tells the true story of the search for an elderly Aboriginal couple in the Western Gibson Desert in late 1970s. The Aboriginal who was part of the search team, was navigating the team by moving from one water source to another, in the hope to find the couple at one of these water holes. He did this, because that's the way Aboriginal people live there nomadic life in a desert by moving from waterhole to waterhole, and he assumed that the couple would have done so, too. This book provides a good insight into the life of the Mandildjara people, too.
A rich diet
For Aboriginal tribes living close to the coast, fish, shellfish, lobsters, crabs and other seafood is the primary food source. Also a vast variety of fruits and vegatables is available, but most of them have to be threated specially in order to remove the poison which causes dead otherwise.
While hunting and gathering for Aborigines near the coast is easy, it is much harder for the Aboriginal people that live in the harsh desert climate. Food sources are scarer and hunters must sometimes travel great distances to find any game. Besides kangaroos or emus, also snakes, small lizards and goannas are eaten. Beside the famous Aboriginal boomerang, aboriginal people of Australia use a wide range of aboriginal weapons to hunt down game.
If you want to learn about Aboriginal food of the Cadigal people , who lived around Sydney, go to the Botanic Garden in Sydney. There you will find a self guided tour that introduces your to some of the food that was gathered and eaten by the Cadigal people. When you travel to the Blue Mountains close to Sydney, you will be able to find the food described on the self guided tour.
The Minjungbal Aboriginal Culture Centre in Tweeds Head explains the connection between the different clans (Murwillumbahclan, Coodjingburra, Moorung-Moobar) of the Ngandowal tribe. In the small musuem of the culture centre you can learn about the life, Aboriginal food, Aborginal ceremonies and the traditions of the Ngdandowal tribe.