The rise and fall (and rise again) of native Australian plant food
June 5, 2023
With the increasing rate of extreme weather events and ongoing effects of climate change, many Aussies are looking to adopt more sustainable habits - growing native plant food in your home garden is one of them. Olivia Sanders reports.
Australia is home to over 6,500 species of edible plants but native produce still isn’t common in the average Australian diet even though Australia’s first colonisers though ate much of this food.
According to the Australian National University the “British settlers needed to engage with the edible flora and fauna of the continent almost immediately upon arrival.”
And “the journals of First Fleet officers record not only their reliance on native food, but the relish with which they enjoyed it.”
Hayden Marks, founder of Melbourne Bushfood
Credit: Forbes
But owner of Naarm based native edible plant nursery and food producer Melbourne Bushfood, Hayden Marks said colonisers still viewed this food as “uncivilised, and unrefined and not very beautiful.”
“So once a lot of the agriculture had settled in, they didn't really want to be interacting with these foods,” and new generations “lost” knowledge of indigenous plant food.
Native plant food is starting to gain popularity again in Australia, but Mr Marks said the development of our species overseas means indigenous communities may not benefit from their use.
And points to the Nagoya Protocol as a potential solution to ensure indigenous communities benefit from their cultural knowledge.
According to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Nagoya Protocol “is an international agreement which aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way.”
And “Indigenous and local communities may receive benefits through a legal framework that respects the value of traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources.”
But the majority of produce grown and sold in modern Australia is still imported species.
Which need heavy irrigation that can damage eco systems by leading to soil erosion and loss of habitat.
A 1991 algae outbreak affected over 1,200 kilometres of the Darling River and was in part caused by nitrogen and other nutrients in fertilizer runoff and sewage.
These kind of outbreaks continue to occur.
But in his 2018 TedX talk Indigenous writer an anthologist Bruce Pascoe said “world and national inaction on the human contribution to climate change is leading to a situation where we will soon struggle to irrigate crops.”
Native Australian plants growing at the Melbourne Bushfood nursery in Fairfield, Melbourne VIC.
Credit: Olivia Sanders
And said adopting native plant food widely could be part of the solution.
Because “Aboriginal domesticates do not require any more moisture than the Australian climate provides. No more fertilizer than our soils already contain, and as they are adapted to Australian pests, they need no pesticide,” Mr Pascoe said.
So for those wanting to grow native plant food in a home garden, sea celery, warrigal greens, and atherton raspberries could be a good place to start.
Sea celery is a leafy green vegetable with slight saltiness that is native to all Australian states and can be used in place of regular celery, or as a garnish like parsley.
Warrigal greens produce leaves that can be used in place of lettuce or spinach, and thrives in cooler climates.
Somewhere between raspberries and strawberries, Atherton raspberries are small berry fruit ideal for growing in warm or subtropical climates.