Indigenous Australian food culture is in the spotlight with the June World’s 50 Best Restaurants win for chef Mindy Woods, a proud Bundjalung woman and advocate for First Nations cuisine.
Travellers who would like to experience Indigenous cuisine can take part in cultural and culinary experiences with Mindy at Karkalla on Bundjalung Country, immersed in the beauty of her hinterland Byron Bay farm in northern New South Wales.
From bush food tours to dining under the stars, and hunting or foraging for your own meal, travellers can expect to be awed by the diversity of native flavours found across Australia.
Discover Aboriginal Experiences (DAE) invites foodies to visit nature’s supermarket on guided Aboriginal bush-tucker walks, and to taste the unique flavours of Australian landscapes including wattleseed that can be used to make damper, Kakadu plum and saltbush to season and enhance flavours.
“Some of the best experiences are learning how to hunt traditionally, and to forage and then to try your hand at catching your own dinner,” said Nicole Mitchell, Executive Officer Discover Aboriginal Experiences.
“Food is at the heart of culture and experiencing food is essential for understanding the world’s oldest continuous living cultures.”
In Western Australia, just a short drive from Perth, Dale Tilbrook, a proud Wardandi Bibbulmun woman, shares her deep knowledge of Aboriginal food traditions, the benefits of Australian native ingredients, and how they can be used in cooking today, on her tours.
Guests are invited to taste a variety of wild bush foods, including quandong, native limes, sandalwood nuts and local coastal greens. Learn about – and sniff, touch and taste – native Australian herbs, spices and other aromatics. Discover the uses of bush-tucker plants, their medicinal properties and the surprising health benefits they offer.
Other activities here include exploring Dale’s bush-food garden and learning the local history and culture. Explore the incredible world of native Australian bush foods with Dale in this video here.
An Aboriginal Bush Tucker tour in the Royal Botanic Garden of Sydney / Warrane, with a First Nations Guide, invites guests to experience the power of plants by walking through the Cadi Jam Ora garden to discover Indigenous bush foods and learn how they were used traditionally – before sampling.
In Broome / Rubibi in Western Australia, Mabu Buru Tours is an Aboriginal-owned and -operated tourism business that provides an Indigenous perspective to the landscape in and around this northern region, and introduces guests to the ancient culture of the Yawuru and Karajarri Peoples. On a Binba Mayii 4WD Tag-along experience, visitors track down and forage for local delicacies like mud crabs, mud shells, mangrove snails, stingray and fish, learning about the local Indigenous cultures before feasting on their fresh catch.
Seafood plays a starring role on experiences hosted by Saltwater Eco Tours on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Feast on fresh Mooloolaba prawns and oysters alongside other bush tucker-inspired treats, on the Mooloolaba Bushtucker Cruise – while you drift you learn how the local Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi people have lived in harmony with these waterways for thousands of years. Indigenous co-owner Simon Thornalley shares his own deep connection to Sea Country through storytelling and the soulful sounds of his didgeridoo.
At Ayers Rock Resort’s Tali Wiru experience in the Northern Territory, guests experience bush flavours in an open-air setting, with Uluru as a backdrop. Each dish in the four-course meal showcases native produce and might include pressed wallaby with fermented quandong or roasted toothfish and coastal greens.
