Uses of wild foods; plant use; medicinal use of plants; Uluru; Yarrabah; foods of the First Fleet; wild coffees; wild teas; native cherry; seashore fruits; pigfaces; rainforest fruits; outback fruits; feral fruits; seeds; nuts; beans; peas; lilies; wild orchids; cress; mustards; weeds; seaweeds; wild mushrooms; flowers; herbs; spices; gums; manna; lerp; Aboriginal game; colonial game and hunting methods; endangered species; conservation.

Before the colonisation of Australia, Aboriginal Australians lived on a wonderful larder of fresh fruit, vegetables and lean meat, in a land largely free from disease, with more exercise, less stress and supportive communities. Today, in Aboriginal communities all over Australia, there are higher instances of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, renal disease, some types of cancer and lung diseases than in the general population. This book is an attempt to preserve bush tucker knowledge for future generations of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to ensure the information is not lost with the passing of Elders. The authors describe over 260 species of the edible plants and fungi that were regularly gathered by the Noongars of the Bibbulmun Nation of the south-west of Western Australia before and after colonisation. Many of these plants and fungi are difficult to find today because of land clearing for crops and the farming of sheep and cattle.

‘This is a book about Australian food, not the foods that European Australians cooked from ingredients they brought with them, but the flora and fauna that nourished the Aboriginal peoples for over 50,000 years. It is because European Australians have hardly touched these foods for over 200 years that I am writing it.’ We celebrate cultural and culinary diversity, yet shun foods that grew here before white settlers arrived. We love ‘superfoods’ from exotic locations, yet reject those that grow here. We say we revere sustainable local produce, yet ignore Australian native plants and animals that are better for the land than those European ones. In this, the most important of his books, John Newton boils down these paradoxes by arguing that if you are what you eat, we need to eat different foods: foods that will help to reconcile us with the land and its first inhabitants. But the tide is turning. European Australians are beginning to accept and relish the flavours of Australia, everything from kangaroo to quandongs, from fresh muntries to the latest addition, magpie goose. With recipes from chefs such as Peter Gilmore, Maggie Beer and René Redzepi’s sous chef Beau Clugston, The Oldest Foods on Earth will convince you that this is one food revolution that really matters.

BIG BOOK. Let's learn about the amazing variety of bush tucker that can be found in the Australian outback. 6 yrs +.

Describes 170 foods and medicines and their unique and often unusual uses.

Major Les Hiddins, best known as the Bush Tucker Man, has spent a lifetime travelling northern Australia. Here, Les shares his knowledge and passions, inviting readers to follow the bush tucker trail to explore the outback, and to understand more about this unique country.

"When Napangardi filled the coolamon with bush tucker to take her friend Napurrula she had no idea what would happen along the way"--cover.