wild thing
Native ingredients is this year’s biggest food trend.
Tim Tams and Gaytimes might be synonymous with the taste of Australia, but even those gastronomic heroes are now owned by foreign multinationals. So it’s probably time that our culinary identity saw a seismic shift. “Food in Australia has gone through so many changes,” says cook and author Nigella Lawson, appearing recently at Western Australia’s Margaret River Gourmet Escape, presented by Audi. “It used to have a very British influence, which was just so wrong for the climate.”
Foraging for ingredients is a practice employed by chefs the world over, but it’s perhaps nowhere better suited to the expansive land and endless diversity in landscape of our fair isle. So it’s no surprise foraging is hitting new heights in Australia. Chef Paul Iskov’s “roaming” restaurant Fervor creates degustation experiences that focus on native and locally sourced ingredients in amazing regions all over WA. “I worked in restaurants using native ingredients for years, but generally it was just lemon myrtle or wattleseed,” he says. “I realised we aren’t using much of the local ingredients, and the more I learnt, the more intrigued I was. Tasting these new ingredients changed everything – the flavours don’t compare to anything else.”
Rather than turning to Google, Iskov learns about the ingredients from the traditional owners of the land. “They have thousands of years worth of knowledge to know the best ways of processing, storing and cooking them,” he explains.
Chef Jock Zonfrillo from Adelaide’s Restaurant Orana has spent 16 years researching indigenous ingredients for his seasonally changing menu (like Iskov, he follows the Aboriginal six-season calendar, rather than the traditional four). His passion also led to him establishing The Orana Foundation to progress the native food industry and assist indigenous enterprise. “It’s a great opportunity for communities to generate a good income either by wild harvesting or growing commercial crops in remote areas,” says Iskov.
The environmental benefits of using local produce are well-known, and there’s another plus: Australia’s native ingredients are really good for you. “Kangaroo and emu are low in fat and high in protein,” Iskov says. “Native plants, fruits and vegetables have high levels of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, which would blow so-called ‘superfoods’ out of the water.”
Native ingredients also just happen to be as on-trend as a Gucci logo tee right now, meaning cooking with them is sure to earn you extra cred at your next dinner party. Not ready to swap your lamb chop for an emu steak? Try a more subtle approach with ingredients such as bush tomatoes. “Foraging is a lot like baking – it’s a mix of chemistry and poetry,” Lawson says. “And I think that’s just what we need in cooking right now.”