By Dave Price This is the fruit of the bush passionfruit, or Capparis spinosa and in Warlpiri, mingkilyananga. Try saying that with a mouthful of Christmas pudding. It grows along water courses in Central Australia, flowering and then fruiting in early December usually. It’s a small shrub but can get pretty big in the right conditions. We have one growing self seeded in our back yard from river sand that I imported to replace a small patch of lawn that had been destroyed by army grubs. it ...Read more
Personally I think Alice Springs might be a better place to be than the beach this Christmas. You might pick up from this that I’m not actually going to the beach, but this is not sour grapes on my part. More like sweet figs, in fact. I am bewitched by the sheer fecundity of what is all around us this summer in the Centre (except perhaps for mice and grasshoppers), and the native fig I mentioned in Sunday’s post is just another Christmas bonus. The tree grows on a particularly rocky ...Read more
After this year’s Bushfood competition at the Desert Festival, I’ve commenced a self-managed apprenticeship to the masterful cooks who plied delighted festival-goers with such a plethora of tastes, textures and new ways of thinking about food this year. I began on Sunday night with a slightly bodgied version of Hujjat Nadarajah’s victorious Bushtucka Bademjoon Persian roo and eggplant stew, foregoing the Quangdong Addas Poloh persian lentil quangdong rice Hujjat served it up ...Read more
A “Larapinta Trail Mix” of dried native foods with a cordial made from quandongs and ruby saltbush berries , a bush passionfruit brulee and a classically presented high tea were the winners in a morning marked by “wonderful concepts” at the second round of the Alice Springs wildfood recipes competition. Rain drove the competition indoors to the Water Tank Cafe in Hele Crescent, and although it was made clear by entrants that the weather had had a longer-term effec...Read more
Former Alice Springs chef Miranda Sage was well-known for her culinary achievements when she lived here in years gone by … but in recent years she has gone completely wild. The evidence is her Totally Wild Terrine, Salad and Pickles, which won Miranda equal first prize in the Alice Springs Desert Festival’s Wild Bushfoods Recipe Competition. That made it two years in a row for Miranda, who last year entered an equally beautifully presented Bushman’s Bag and Swag. It’s onl...Read more
‘What’s that jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tucker bag?” “Well, actually, officer, it’s not a jumbuck. It’s … well it’s a bit more complicated than that …’’ “Sure, tell that to the judges.’’ There was no need for Miranda Sage to jump in the billabong after she presented her dish at this year’s Bush foods Recipe Competition. In fact, the judges were so impressed by the contents of her tucker bag they gave her first prize for best savoury dish. Miranda de...Read more
ou’re never too young to appreciate bush foods – and maybe youth is an advantage when it comes to valuing the treasures that grow all around us. Rhodanthe Collins’ ruby juice was a source of considerable excitement for the under-10s at this year’s Bush Foods Recipe Competition (2009). Ruby is pictured here with Bush Foods co-ordinator Rebecca Goodenham...Read more
In years to come, tyape – as the Arrernte people of Central Australia call witchetty grubs – may have the same culinary status as truffles – or as novelist Jo Dutton suggests, the roe of sea anemone. Jo should know. She and her friend Carol Turner, an Eastern Arrernte woman from around Alices had to travel long and dig deep into hot red sand to find the ingredients for their tyape sushi, which they entered in the first heat of this year’s Bush Food’s Recipe Competition at t...Read more