Bush Food Aboriginal Food and Herbal Midicine

For perhaps fifty thousand years the Aboriginal people have lived, and lived well, in Australia. They have developed a unique knowledge of native plants and a deep understanding of the value of many animal products. Bush Food is an exploration of these traditional skills and a compendium of the kinds of foods eaten by Aborigines. It indicates how food is caught or gathered, hunted or picked, how it is prepared and cooked, and what nutritional value it has. It considers, too, the use of natural products in traditional Aboriginal herbal medicine.

Jennifer Isaacs AM Jennifer Isaacs is a prominent Australian writer, art consultant and independent curator. A pioneer in moves to gain respect for Aboriginal culture, she is the author of seminal books on Aboriginal art, religion, plant use, food, medicine and oral history. In 2003 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of her work promoting Aboriginal culture and assisting Aboriginal artists.

INTRODUCTION 11 1 NATURALISTS, HUNTERS AND GATHERERS 13 2 SEASONS AND THE AUSTRALIAN ENVIRONMENT 25 3 PEOPLE, PLANTS AND ANIMALS 43 4 COOKING TECHNIQUES 51 FRUIT 59 NUTS 79 ROOTS, TUBERS, CORMS AND BULBS 91 SEEDS AND DAMPER 107 GREEN VEGETABLES 121 HONEY, GUM AND NECTAR 131 LAND ANIMALS 141 MARINE ANIMALS AND FISH 153 SHELLFISH 169 BILLABONG AND SWAMP ANIMALS 181 INSECTS AND GRUBS 189 HERBAL MEDICINE 197 APPENDICES 1 TABLE OF PLANT FOODS 216 2 TABLE OF HERBAL MEDICINES 230 ENDNOTES 241 BIBLIOGRAPHY 244 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 252 INDEX 253