Indigenous Engagement

Australia’s increasingly diverse food culture is benefitting from the wider recognition of Indigenous bush foods, which University of Queensland Professor Henrietta Marrie AM said must be brought to the mainstream in ways that combine traditional knowledge systems with science.

A native Australian nut has the potential to be part of the burgeoning Indigenous bushfood industry, according to research led by The University of Queensland.

Indigenous rights activist and expert in Indigenous intellectual and cultural property and heritage, Professor Henrietta Marrie AM has joined the ARC Uniquely Australian Foods (UAF) Training Centre, based at The University of Queensland.

Without the food traditions and heritage of Europe, where provenance is integral to marketing – think hams from Parma, Italy, or cheese from Cheddar, England – Australia is turning to science to identify, verify and tell the stories of its own unique food provenance. 

An Indigenous fruit which is one of the earliest known plant foods eaten in Australia could be the next big thing in the bush foods industry.
The University of Queensland research team is led by bush foods researcher Associate Professor Yasmina Sultanbawa, who said the green plum not only tasted delicious but contained one of the highest known folate levels of any fruit on the commercial market.

Associate Professor Yasmina Sultanbawa from UQ’s Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation was recognised for her work with Aboriginal communities and industry in northern Australia to develop the powder.