BUSH BITES
Eat your predators
WORDS KATE ROBERTSON
BUSH BITES
Eat your predators
WORDS KATE ROBERTSON
Worried about being eaten by a croc or nipped by a green ant? You can turn the tables on these tours, which turn your predators into fine dining ingredients.
From gin-infused cucumber crowned with green ants to lemon myrtle kangaroo loin and a Gunditjmara eel tasting platter, these tours will put your taste buds to the ultimate bushtucker test. The question is, are you game?
GREEN ANTS
Wintjiri Wiru is one of the Central Australia's must-do experiences. Set against the backdrop of Uluru, it is a unique combination of one of the world’s oldest Creation stories told through the world’s largest ongoing drone display across an epic evening of culture.
But the cultural immersion is not restricted to the incredible sight of 1,200 drones and laser lights recreating the ancient Mala story. When you arrive at the Uluru viewing platform, waitstaff provide refreshing Spiced Apple Tonic Cocktails accompanied by gin-infused cucumber topped with green ants and celery salt canapés. I repeat, green ants…
The bushtucker-inspired dining options include lemon myrtle crocodile curry pie, blackened pepper leaf kangaroo, and smoked emu with a saltbush chilli crust.
Sails in the Desert Executive Chef, Jarrod Wright says green ants and finger limes are the most unusual bush ingredients he has ever worked with.
‘To look at something so small and get such a robust flavour that explodes in your mouth is something else,’ he says. ‘The desert limes are very strong in flavours - it’s like a little pearl, like a gel pearl.’
Bundjalung Chef Mark Olive, who helped design the Wintjiri Wiru menu, finds most people are willing to try bush foods. ‘It’s the curiosity factor. To come into this environment, people are often here to immerse themselves in something new and different, and that’s what we do here.
‘You shouldn’t be expecting to come out here and get a burger like McDonald’s... It’s really a place to be immersed in, foodwise, culturewise, and spiritualwise. When we’re making these dishes, we’re giving people a cultural connection but, not only that, also a story.’
Wintjiri Wiru | Adult from AU$310
CROC CANAPES
From the moment guests arrive at Flames of the Forest, where the setting is a silk marquee in the Queensland rainforest, illuminated by hundreds of candelabras, forest lights and flame torches, it’s obvious this is not your average dining experience.
Sure, there is sparkling wine and other drinks, but the canapés include smoked crocodile on a disc of cucumber, and one of the mains is lemon myrtle-infused kangaroo loin on a bed of wild rocket and toasted macadamia nuts, with a fig chutney garnish.
General Manager Niki Whiting says many guests are initially reluctant to try the bushmeats.
‘It sounds funny, but I think that people are scared of crocodiles and it’s like they are scared of the plate. But when the staff tell them it just tastes like smoked chicken — which is true — then they’ll try it.’
For some, it’s the thought of eating iconic Australian animals that is the barrier. Some overseas visitors mistakenly think kangaros are sacred or endangered.
‘Whereas we know that there's an abundance of them. So, we're doing Australia a favour with flavour,’ Niki laughs.
After the canapés, guests are treated to a performance of didgeridoo, song, and a Creation story by Kuku Yalanji brothers, Gary and Yanganda Creek, as the main is served on platters to share.
‘That's what they did back then,’ Niki says. ‘So, it's like everyone comes over and you cook a big feast, and you all sit together and share together. It gets everyone talking and getting to know each other.’
The bushmeats invariably speed up the bonding process as guests debate whether to have a taste.
‘About 80 per cent of guests try the croc. I think more have the roo because you can just try a little piece and, when you have it cooked so perfectly, I think no one can believe that it’s just so delicious.’
Whilst the bushmeats make up only a small part of the menu, they definitely add to the authenticity of the evening, Niki says.
‘It’s really nice when people who are so hesitant at the start are then so glad they tried it. That's the most important part for us — to give them an experience that they'll remember forever.’
Aboriginal Cultural Experience | Adult from AU$250
EEL PLATTER
Joseph Saunders, General Manager of Budj Bim Cultural Landscape Tourism in Victoria, grew up eating short fin eel, known as kooyang. It wasn’t just a staple for his immediate family, it has been a staple for his Gunditjmara people for thousands of years.
‘To me, it's a mixture of tuna and sardines,’ Joey says. ‘I try not to eat too much of it because it is fatty, but it's the best thing ever.’
Smoking eels
Traditionally, Gunditjmara would skewer the eels and hang them from notches on the inside of a hollow tree. They would build a fire on a clay plate (to protect the tree roots) and add a bark-wrapped package of flavouring ingredients, such as fruit and nuts. They would cover the hollow with bark and leave the eel to smoke for 24 hours, poking the fire regularly to keep it going.
Defying the stereotype of Aboriginal people being nomads, the Gunditjmara used sustainable engineering techniques to shape the volcanic wetlands to trap and harvest eel and fish. The success of their efforts is evident in the remains of the stone buildings that were home for thousands of people who feasted on kooyang and traded the sought-after staple with tribes across Australia.
At Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, in Victoria’s west, visitors can explore the eel traps before heading to the café where dining options include tasting boards with smoked kooyang, kooyang arancini balls and kooyang paté.
‘I reckon seven out of 10 would demolish that whole tasting board,’ Joey says. ‘You get others where they've only touched the eel a little bit, but the arancini balls and the eel paté are all gone.’
Whilst he understands kooyang may not be to everyone’s taste, Joey is keen for visitors to try the delicacy that has played such a key role in the history of the Gunditjmara.
‘I want everyone to have that experience of tasting the food that's from Country…to understand the reasons why we do everything for Country, the reasons why we look after it. Because when Country is healthy, we are healthy.’
Tae Rak Guided Cultural Tour | Adult from AU$89
Hungry?
Here are more tours that will get your mind racing and stomach rumbling.
Witchetty grubs
If you’re ever lost in the outback, desperate for a protein-rich snack, witchetty grubs could be your saviour. To find out where and how to find this legendary bush tucker, join Peter Abbott and his sister Natasha at Karrke Aboriginal Cultural Experience and Tours in Central Australia. You'll learn how to dig up tree roots filled with these wriggly, nutty-tasting treats. These grubs are the ultimate bush tucker initiation.
Karrke Aboriginal Cultural Experience and Tours | Adult from AU$99
Mud crabs
If you’d rather catch your meal than order it, join Juan Walker on a coastal foraging journey through the Daintree, one of the world’s oldest rainforests. A proud Kuku Yalanji man, Juan blends local knowledge with humour as he leads small groups into the mangroves in search of mud crabs, periwinkles, and native shellfish. You’ll learn to spear, gather and cook bush foods, sitting down to a campfire feast of freshly-caught crab...assuming you've shown some hunting talent.
Southern Daintree Rainforest guided tour NGANA JULAYMBA DUNGAY | Adult from AU$190
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