|
Bushfood
Bush tucker, also called bush food, is any food native to Australia and used as sustenance by Indigenous Australians, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but it can also describe any native flora or fauna used for culinary or medicinal purposes, regardless of the continent or culture. Animal native foods include kangaroo, emu, witchetty grubs and crocodile, and plant foods include fruits such as quandong, kutjera, spices such as lemon myrtle and vegetables such as warrigal greens and various native yams. Traditional Indigenous Australians' use of bushfoods has been severely affected by the settlement of Australia in 1788 and subsequent settlement by non-Indigenous peoples. The introduction of non-native foods, together with the loss of traditional lands, resulting in reduced access to native foods by Aboriginal people, and destruction of native habitat for agriculture, has accentuated the reduction in use. Since the 1970s, there has been recognition of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witchetty Grubs
The witchetty grub (also spelled witchety grub or witjuti grub) is a term used in Australia for the large, white, wood-eating larvae of several moths. In particular, it applies to the larvae of the cossid moth ''Endoxyla leucomochla'', which feeds on the roots of the witchetty bush (after which the grubs are named) that is widespread throughout the Northern Territory and also typically found in parts of Western Australia and South Australia, although it is also found elsewhere throughout Australia. The term may also apply to larvae of other cossid moths, ghost moths (Hepialidae), and longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae). The term is used mainly when the larvae are being considered as food. The grub is the most important insect food of the desert and has historically been a staple in the diets of Aboriginal Australians. Terminology The Arabana term for the grub is (with emphasis on initial syllables); means grub, and refers to the shrub, not the grub itself. Similarly, Ngalea p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of The Bushfood Industry
The modern Australian native food industry, also called the bushfood industry, had its initial beginnings in the 1970s and early 1980s, when regional enthusiasts and researchers started to target local native species for use as food. Indigenous Australians had been harvesting many species for use as food (bush tucker) and medicines ( bush medicine) for millennia. In the mid 1970s Brian Powell recognized the commercial potential of quangdong fruit and began its cultivation in orchards. Following this, the CSIRO became involved in quangdong research. In the late 1970s, Peter Hardwick began investigating subtropical native plants suitable for commercial cropping, selecting fruit species like riberry, Davidsonia, and later leaf-spices, like lemon myrtle, Aniseed myrtle, and Dorrigo Pepper. Hardwick started targeting strong flavoured species suitable for processing, which later became the main industry strategy. In the 1980s, Hardwick worked in the New South Wales Department of Agricu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lemon Myrtle
''Backhousia citriodora'' (common names lemon myrtle, lemon scented myrtle, lemon scented ironwood) is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, genus ''Backhousia''. It is endemic to subtropical rainforests of central and south-eastern Queensland, Australia, with a natural distribution from Mackay to Brisbane. Other common names are sweet verbena tree, sweet verbena myrtle, (lemon scented verbena is another species), and lemon scented backhousia. Growth It can reach in height, but is often smaller. The leaves are evergreen, opposite, lanceolate, long and broad, glossy green, with an entire margin. The flowers are creamy-white, in diameter, produced in clusters at the ends of the branches from summer through to autumn, after petal fall the calyx is persistent. Etymology Lemon myrtle was given the botanical name ''Backhousia citriodora'' in 1853 after the English botanist, James Backhouse. The common name reflects the strong lemon smell of the crushed leaves. "Lemon scente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flora Of Australia
The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 30,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens. The flora has strong affinities with the flora of Gondwana, and below the family level has a highly endemic angiosperm flora whose diversity was shaped by the effects of continental drift and climate change since the Cretaceous. Prominent features of the Australian flora are adaptations to aridity and fire which include scleromorphy and serotiny. These adaptations are common in species from the large and well-known families Proteaceae (''Banksia''), Myrtaceae (''Eucalyptus'' - gum trees), and Fabaceae (''Acacia'' - wattle). The arrival of humans around 50,000 years ago and the settlement by Europeans from 1788, has had a significant impact on the flora. The use of fire-stick farming by Aboriginal people led to significant changes in the distribution of plant species over time, and the large-sca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
