Spring is a time of ripening and abundance. I love the bountiful fresh produce available at Coast farmers markets in spring: artichokes, asparagus, beetroot, celeriac, gooseberries, dragonfruit, nectarines; the list is mouth-watering long.
The prospect of spring set me thinking about what edible native plants and botanicals might be in season on the Coast. I’m unabashedly a gourmand. I get excited about discovering and tasting new foods, and so this thought set me on a hunt for local bush tucker experiences.
My Dilly Bag at Forest Glen was my first stop on this track of discovery. There I met proprietor Aunty Dale Chapman, and we had a yarn. Aunty Dale is a Yuwaalaraay, Kooma woman operating on Gubbi Gubbi country.
She established her business 24 years ago with $300 and a dream of giving Aboriginal communities a platform to sell products derived from sustainably grown and harvested Australian sovereign foods and botanicals. Also known as bush tucker or native foods, Australian sovereign foods are endemic to Australia and have been traditionally used and cultivated by Indigenous Australians for thousands of years.
Aunty Dale prefers the term “sovereign foods” as she says it “emphasises the cultural and historical significance of these unique foods, deepening the connection and birthright of First Nations peoples to our traditional foods, as well as our right to maintain and control our cultural heritage and food systems”.
My Dilly Bag champions Indigenous communities by providing a viable commercial channel to develop, market and distribute Aboriginal products. Money is funnelled back into these communities via new revenue streams, helping them maintain their traditions and engender positive prospects for future generations.
“It was my dream to bring my traditional knowledge that has been shared with me from my family, community Elders and others with my contemporary training as a chef,” Aunty Dale explains.
“I wanted to be a positive and inspirational entrepreneur for my people and fellow Australians to be proud of what my ancestors treasured and sustained for millennia.”
The shop shelves are lined with bush food pantry items and gourmet foods made with native ingredients, including sauces, jams and snacks that showcase the rich flavours of Australian bush foods. You will also find nutrient-rich items such as teas, supplements and skin care products that leverage the health benefits of native plants.
If you wish to dive deeper into understanding the nutritional benefits and cultural significance of bush foods and how to use native ingredients in your cooking, My Dilly Bag offers interactive sessions and educational programs online as well as in-house face-to-face workshops.
Aunty Dale also told me about another long-time vision of hers that came to fruition in December last year – GATHAA First Nations Markets. Her aim was to create a platform for First Nations entrepreneurs to showcase their talents and creations. Fortunately for me, the next market was on the weekend after our yarn, so I took my family along.
There really is something for the whole family: cultural workshops, cooking demos, cultural tours, yarning circles, First Nations artisan stalls, live entertainment, food vans offering bush food-inspired meals and bush food plants and products.
I love a good market and this market is like no other I have experienced on the Coast. It really is an immersive experience. It was fascinating watching Aboriginal Elders pass on their knowledge and lore through song and dance to the younger generation. While it was a staged performance, I felt privileged to be there, and I can only describe the market vibe as beautiful.
At GATHAA, I also had the pleasure of meeting Veronica Cougan, owner and manager of Witjuiti Grub Bushfood Nursery, which has been flourishing since 1996. The nursery at Obi Obi is open by appointment only.
Veronica told me that native raspberries start ripening in winter and continue into early spring on the Coast. It’s also the time when the Gympie lime starts to flower (ready to be harvested from November onwards).
Some bush foods commonly found year-round on the Coast include warrigals, pigface, lemon myrtle and cinnamon myrtle. I found out not only where to find them this spring but also how to consume them.
Warrigal greens – also known as New Zealand spinach – have succulent leaves similar to spinach when the plant is young but develop a bitter taste as it matures. They’re native to Australia and New Zealand. This scrambling shrub is common in coastal areas, often growing in sand near the beach.
It tastes great in pesto bread and pasta dishes.
Pigface is another sand dune-growing edible bush food. The red-purple fruit on this succulent tastes like salty strawberries or salty apples, and its thick, fleshy leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. Pigface is used to soothe insect bites, but its fresh leaves can also be eaten whole in a salad or ground into meat dishes, breads or beverages.
Lemon myrtle is a year-round rainforest plant native to southeast Queensland. Medicinally, it is prized for its calming and sedating properties, as well as its healing benefits for colds and flu. Tests have shown it has high antifungal and antibacterial properties and contains four to seven times the antioxidants of blueberries.
Cinnamon myrtle is a hardwood rainforest species native to subtropical eastern Australia. Its leaves give off a cinnamon fragrance when rubbed or crushed and can be used as a substitute for cinnamon spice. Use it to flavour curries, stews, soups and roasts, as well as sweets, biscuits and pastries.
GATHAA is currently held monthly on a Sunday in the car park outside My Dilly Bag. Follow them on social media for market dates and updates.
Keen to try some real bush food, I set sail on Saltwater Eco Tours’ lunchtime bush tucker cruise, which departs Mooloolaba Wharf Tuesday to Sunday (weather permitting).
Stepping aboard the Spray of the Coral Coast – a 116-year-old timber classic sailing boat – was like stepping back in time.
As the ketch departed the marina, Saltwater owner, skipper and tour guide Simon Thornalley told us about its fascinating history. It was a replica of the original Spray, the boat used by American Joshua Slocum, who was the first person to circumnavigate the globe circa 1895.
Our vessel, which was built to the same plan as the original and launched in 1925, was thought to be the oldest Spray replica in Australia and possibly the world.
As we cruised the Mooloolah River and its man-made canals, Simon talked passionately about the history, ecology and sustainability of the waterways from an Indigenous perspective.
A Coast-born local of Torres Strait Island and Aboriginal descent, Simon collaborates with the traditional owners, the Gubbi Gubbi people, to deliver a tourism experience that respectfully imparts the wisdom of the world’s oldest continuous living cultures, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
My face felt sun-kissed and warmed by the glass of complimentary sparkling wine as I sat at the bow of the ketch. I couldn’t imagine a better setting to sample a five-course canape bush tucker menu. I ate crocodile for the first time – and I liked the small morsels of meat coated with a bunya nut tempura batter, fried and seasoned with hibiscus wild salt and native pepper leaf. I expected crocodile to taste more ‘gamey’, but to me, it tasted like a mix between squid and chicken.
Simon spoke enthusiastically about the bush tucker ingredients as the crew circulated each dish. It was a degustation and education all rolled into one. Did you know the nutritious nuts from the bunya pines come from a species of tree dating back to the dinosaur era? Or that pigface is good for digestion?
Each course – from oysters to scallops, crocodile, and an Indigenous twist on seafood chowder was like nothing I’d tasted before. I savoured the layering of different tastes and textures and it left me with a genuine curiosity to further explore bush tucker cuisine. The menu is seasonal and changes every two to three months.
My bush tucker adventure was by no means exhaustive. I encourage you to discover for yourself the best bush tucker experiences the Coast has to offer this spring.
Visit: mydillybag.com.au, witjutigrub.com.au, facebook.com/gathaa.markets, saltwaterecotours.com.au