There is much to learn from Indigenous people about their knowledge of native bush foods, many of which are now known as superfoods, such as Riberries, quondongs, Kakadu plums, finger limes and lemon myrtle, to name a few. These ingredients not only add depths of flavour to cuisine, but bush foods are also known to have many medicinal qualities.
But the traditional wisdom about these culinary delights is now growing outside the Indigenous communities, creating a great demand for the native ingredients.
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The NITV Podcast - Bush superfoods
SBS NITV Radio
23/09/202017:05
Niyoka Bundle from PAWA catering in Melbourne has the first-hand experience of the rise in popularity of bush foods.
“I think bush tucker is the best because it’s versatile and shows our rich cultural background and our history. All the food we used to eat is known as superfoods these days, and there are so many benefits to eating it.”
Ms Bundle’s business offers fusion foods which are western foods with an Indigenous twist, that can be easily adapted by using different native ingredients to create a link between the Indigenous and western culinary traditions.
Quandong (Santalum acuminatum) fruit, Lake Johnston, Western Australia Source: Getty Images
“We like to create a fusion between western and native ingredients so that it can be like just your average sausage roll or pies and one of our favourite things is Kangaroo pie. We get some puff pastry, and we get this little special Kangaroo mixture which we slow cook and put that in the pie, and they come out nice and crispy, and everyone loves those,” she tells NITV Radio.
“One of the ones we love to use is lemon myrtle. It’s such a good herb, it’s really strong and brings a great flavour. We use it in ice-tea, and just a sprinkle in powdered form brings a whole new flavour burst to your average ice tea."
There are around 6000 different flavours from nuts to fruits to spices and different proteins throughout Australia and a lot of mob out there know their own cultural ways of cooking the way that they do things.
Ms Bundle says while the preference is always to source native ingredients from within Victoria, but sometimes it becomes hard, and the business has to import foods from New South Wales and South Australia.
Mirritya Mundya, which translates to ‘hungry blackfish’ in English, is also an Aboriginal-owned and operated catering business located on the NSW coast across the Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions.
Source: PAWA Catering
Owner Dwayne Harrison also offers modern cuisine fused with the Indigenous culinary traditions – something he inherited from his grandparents.
“We lean in on an indigenous twist to more modern cuisine such as the Texas slow and low. So, I do a lot of barbecue low and slow cook which is essentially fire-cooked meat but obviously in a bit of a deadlier version and technology like smokers, but I also do more of a traditional style for the right events as well such as a fir coal cooked paperbark snapper,” he says.
Indigenous people claiming their space in the native food sector
Aunty Dale Chapman who runs her native ingredient business, My Dilli Bag, in Queensland, took it online at the start of the COVID-19 restrictions in Australia.
The transition from a brick-and-mortar model to the virtual space was difficult, but it has helped the business grow overseas even though the demand for native foods and products on the domestic market has grown faster than overseas since the start of the pandemic.
“I think with the lockdown and restrictions people have had the opportunity to stay in their own homes and learn about bush foods from across Australia.”
The growth in business has given an opportunity to her suppliers - most of whom are Indigenous small business owners - to keep up with demand and align their processes to a disrupted supply chain.
In the last few months, My Dilly Bag has recruited additional sales staff in response to the increased demand, as well as IT specialists to manage the booming online activity.
Mr Harrison on the NSW coast is encouraging others across the wider community to join in and work in the industry but he sees great potential for the Indigenous people in the culinary sector.
"You may be a chef or a cook, the question is to ask is how can I be involved. It may be a seasonal opportunity, engage with local business," he says.
"I see the prosperity and I hope that one day we go to a place or a community or a town or on holiday, you are not only looking at the local Chinese, Indian, Italian or French restaurants, the front of everybody's mind is where's the local blackfella serving food."
When COVID-19 began to affect the business, Mr Harrison pivoted the business model to rely more on home deliveries and developed special cold pack deliveries that turned out to be quite popular as well. However, he has had to park away his food truck ‘Munja’ for now, but once it’s rolled out again, Mr Dwayne will be serving fusion dishes such as Lilli Pilli chicken lollipop and lemon myrtle blackfish.
“We have kind of missed on that realm, but we are pretty confident that we can get back and kick in in 2021 so that people can come and visit us when we do pop up the trailer again,” he says. 
In Melbourne that’s currently under a hard lockdown, Ms Bundle has come up with some innovative ideas to take the bush tucker to people’s homes.
Niyoka Bunder (left) and Vincent Manning, owners of PAWA Catering. Source: PAWA Catering
“We are doing native fusion pizza kit, and they will be available very soon. This concept came about during COVID. What we are trying to do is bringing native produce to people, show them how easy it is – you can make it into pizza, you can make it into curries,” she says.
Indigenous foods are growing in popularity with people realising the health benefits of the traditional bush tucker, which is considered superfoods. With this awareness, Indigenous people, in recent years, are claiming their own place in the native produce sector in Australia.
For those interested in exploring the amazing world of the bush tucker, Ms Bundle advises sourcing locally-produced foods and utilising online resources can be helpful.
“There are so many fascinating recipes, just go to your local grocer and ask for these ingredients and experiment at home.”