Aboriginal Bush Food · Native Ingredients
Bush Tucker Plate
Photo: Sputnikcccp / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
The witchetty grub, one of the best-known bush tucker foods, is eaten both raw and lightly cooked in hot ashes — raw it's often described as tasting like almonds, while cooked the skin crisps up and the inside turns light and soft, compared by some to a fried egg or roast chicken.
Market stalls and tour operators across the Top End and Central Australia serve native ingredients — witchetty grubs, kangaroo skewers, bush tomato relish and wattleseed damper — introducing Aboriginal food traditions that stretch back tens of thousands of years. Darwin's markets and Alice Springs tour operators are among the most accessible places for visitors to try them.
Why it's made this way: Witchetty grubs and other bush foods have been a staple protein source for Aboriginal Australians in Central Australia and the Top End for tens of thousands of years, and they remain one of the most direct, living links between the Northern Territory's Aboriginal food culture and what's sold to visitors today.
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