Native foods: Bush lollies, medicinal source, climate-change tool

Whether you call them traditional foods, native ingredients, bush tucker or something else, what’s harvested here is unique. Australia’s a “megadiverse” country, home to around 700,000 species. 65,000-year-old grindstones found in a Kakadu rock shelter reflect the long, rich history of First Nations foods here and many plants are nutritional wonders – Kakadu plum has the highest vitamin C level in the world and even Captain Cook used Warrigal greens to save crews from scurvy. But witchetty grubs appear in Sweden’s Disgusting Food Museum and native ingredients are largely absent from supermarkets, so are First Nations foods misunderstood and unfairly overlooked? In this episode, Lee Tran Lam talks to proud Bundjalung woman and cookbook author Mindy Woods, Chinese Australian chef Kylie Kwong and proud Mbabaram woman/Torres Strait Islander and nutritionist Sharna Motlap.

Om Podcasten

Are olive oil shots a good idea? Should we dunk butter in our coffee? Is soy really “the most dangerous food for men?” and is chocolate actually a health food? (The royal pharmacist certainly thought so when he treated Marie-Antoinette’s headaches during 18th-century France with chocolate!). If health experts tell us we’re consuming too much salt, how do we balance that with cookbooks advising we season our food generously for flavour? And are we overlooking the health and cultural impacts of Indigenous ingredients? It can be tricky trying to consume the ‘right things’, and the forces that shape our diets go far beyond what’s supposedly ‘good for us’. On Should You Really Eat That?, food writer Lee Tran Lam untangles the mixed messaging about the food and drinks we consume – with the help of chefs, dietitians and other guests.