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Saturday, September 5, 2009

Bush Tucker - Ancient Australian Food

/ On : 2:57 AM

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By Jennifer Schellington

Planning a trip to Australia? Wanting to experience some great food and wine? No problem! Australia is an immigrant country which means it offers a huge array or food styles and flavours. There is something to tantalise everyone's taste buds.

Actually, real Australian food is part of Australia's heritage. It is when the Aboriginals were the only settlers on the land

Aborigines are the original inhabiters of Australia and the word "Aboriginal" means "Indigenous to Australia." These are the people that lived in Australia before it was discovered by the British and Europeans. They would eat whatever they could find on the land. This included seeds, nuts and plants. They also ate lots of fish and some meats such as Kangaroo and Crocodile

This food is known as Bush Tucker and refers to the Aboriginal foods that they used to eat. Some still follow the old traditions and eat the same foods today.

These days you can find the key bush tucker ingredients in gourmet jams and chutneys. Clearly this is not how the original aborigines consumed it. You will also see BUSH TUCKER on menus in outback Australia and this generally means you can experience foods such as Kangaroo, crocodile and Emu.

For those of you who have seen the reality TV programmes like "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here" you may have seen the eating of live bugs. These programmes are filmed in Australia and the Witchetty Bugs are a local delicacy. The idea is to squeeze out their insides straight into your mouth. A bit like eating an oyster. The idea is off putting for most! You won't find many places with these on the menu though.

Key Bush Tucker Ingredients

There are thousands of traditional ingredients that are known as Bush Tucker but here are a few of the key ones:

Finger Lime These days a key ingredient in expensive Australian Marmalades. This is a fruit that has a zesty fragrance.

Warrigal Greens are a plant and are a bit like spinach. An interesting fact is that Captain Cook shipped the seeds back to Britain to prevent the disease called scurvy.

Lemon Myrtle Not only is this ingredient used for cooking, it is more widely used for its healing properties. It has a high level of Citral in it which also makes it good for keeping mosquitoes at bay.

Macadamia Nuts A nut synonymous with Australia. These days you will find it in every souvenir shop, usually coated in chocolate.

If you want to experience Bush Tucker as part of your trip to Australia, there are plenty of interesting places. Firstly there are restaurants, usually in the outback where you can try Australian meat. Secondly there are local farm shops where you can try ingredients through pickles and jams. But probably the best experience is to take part in an Aboriginal bush tucker tour. These generally involve a local, guiding you through the bush and the various ingredients. At the end of the tour, there is usually a tasting. For more information on Bush Tucker, visit the Real Australia Travel Website. - 24553

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