GOING NATIVE

What does the future of food look like in Australia? It’s time to tap into our native bounty and relearn the country’s rich Indigenous culture through storied bush-food practices, writes SAMANTHA PAYNE.

- LAURA JACOBS

Did you know there is a fruit that has the highest recorded levels of vitamin C in the world – more than oranges or kiwifruit – and it grows natively in Australia? Gubinge, also known as Kakadu plum, is one of more than 6500 native plants that are edible and medicinal with a much longer lineage than the European botanicals and spices commonly found on our pantry shelves.

But we don’t talk about them, says Warndu co-founder and cook Rebecca Sullivan. “Nothing bothers me more than people paying $30 a bag for goji berries, and they won’t spend that kind of money on something like Davidson’s plums that contain triple the amount of antioxidants,” she says. It’s why she, alongside her partner Damien Coulthard, a teacher, and director of the South Australian Native Title Board from Adnyamathanha country, created the free native substitution guide and e-book available on their website. “Instead of using thyme in a dish, use native thyme – we’re not making it difficult for you, sub one ingredient in and one out.” The guide shows you all the flavours and comparisons, along with recipes on the Warndu website that even the most amateur cook can master. Warndu also sells oils, teas, and pantry packs all filled with native Australian plants. Some ingredients like strawberry-gum leaves are ground fresh to order and sealed in bags, perfect to have on hand in your pantry.

The main focus moving forward, Sullivan says, is the need to grow these ingredients “respectfully and steadily, while making it the norm – we’ve seen it in the spirit industry, now no one blinks an eye at saltbush being incorporated in gin”.