The time is fast approaching when Australians will be able to tuck into a genuinely Australian Christmas dinner, comprising the rich and rare gastronomic delights this continent has to offer.

From native mint and mountain pepper, wild chillies, muntries, riberries, acacia seeds and rainforest nuts to native limes, bush tomatoes, lemon myrtle, quandongs and Victoria river plums, the exotic cavalcade of indigenous foods is already appearing in our restaurants, shops and now supermarkets.

Aboriginal communities, Coles Supermarkets and the national science agency, CSIRO, have joined forces to help create a sustainable industry based on native food production.

The aim is to raise national awareness of the richness, diversity, nutritional and culinary virtues of bush foods, to help Aboriginal groups to establish new industries around it, to develop sustainable enterprises for the Outback, to help retain native species, and to fund research into novel foods.

The inspiration came from Coles managing director Alan Williams, following a visit to Arnhem Land last year and subsequent discussions with Aboriginal groups and the Northern Territory Government. Coles encouraged its suppliers to establish links with aboriginal communities for the supply of native foods and ingredients. Coles now sells three ranges of bush foods in selected supermarkets nationally.

However it was quickly realised that a significant increase in demand for indigenous foods could outstrip the available supply for some types of food, especially if it relied on wild harvesting. Discussions among the participants all pointed to the need for commercial cultivation and harvest.

To ensure Aboriginal groups have a share in this, Coles established an Indigenous Food Fund to be used by Aboriginal communities to improve cultivation and harvesting methods. The fund was launched by Mandawuy Yunupingu earlier this year with a $20,000 donation by Coles.

CSIRO researchers Dr Maarten Ryder and Yvonne Latham are working on ways to domesticate native plants, improve their yield and find the best ways to handle them at harvest.

"When you consider that the wheat we eat has been gradually improved over 7000 years, it gives some idea of the challenges of developing new crops from wild plants," he explains.

"We are also looking for ways to develop a more sustainable agriculture for Australia, which is sensitive to the soils, water, biodiversity and climatic cycles of the continent.

"Native plants have evolved to our conditions over tens of millions of years. They appear to be ideal for cultivation in many conditions."

Dr Ryder says the benefits of cultivating native foods include:

• conservation of wild resources and protection of biodiversity
• valuing Aboriginal knowledge
• potential for combatting salinity and land degradation
• creating incomes, jobs and new enterprises for Aboriginal communities
• encouraging diversity in traditional agriculture
• access to new sources of healthy food for the nation's diet.

In launching the initiative, Yothu Yindi's Mandawuy Yunupingu said "We welcome initiatives that utilise traditional knowledge and which promote sustainable businesses for Aboriginal people and their communities.

"For tens of thousands of years Aboriginal people have relied on the fruits of this land for our diet and medicinal needs. It's exciting that our fellow Australians can now share the tastes we've enjoyed for millennia."

Dr Ryder says that the present native food industry is worth about $14 million a year. "But we can envisage a day when it may be worth ten times, even 100 times that, if we go about developing it in the right way. We have the example of the wine industry, with exports now worth $1.7 billion, to prove it can be done."

More information:

Dr Maarten Ryder, CSIRO Land and Water 0409 696 360
Email: maarten.ryder@csiro.au

Yvonne Latham, CSIRO Land and Water 08 8832 2177

Chris Mara, Coles Supermarkets, 03 98294141

Leanne Dempsey, CSIRO Land and Water 02 6246 5717
Email: leanne.dempsey@csiro.au

CSIRO is exploring a huge new range of delicious native foods to grace the nation's dinner tables.

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