Indigenous chefs champion native bush foods as everyday superfoods across Australia

Samantha Martin, a Jaru descendant from Western Australia's East Kimberley now residing in Cairns, describes the surrounding bushland as a "supermarket" of native fruits like sandpaper figs and tamarind, urging households to substitute traditional herbs with lemon myrtle or lemon aspen. She promotes the use of game meats such as kangaroo and crocodile in everyday dishes and notes that celebrity chefs have raised the profile of ingredients like Davidson plum and wattle seed.

Martin collaborates with Local Indigenous Food Enterprise Services, whose president Mark Harbrow says non-Indigenous Australians are beginning to recognize the nutritional and medicinal value of these foods. Community members Henrietta Marrie, Tracy Gray and Roy Gray Junior are cultivating yams, working with the University of Queensland to assess their nutrition, and planning a seven-course bush-food menu for the Cairns Convention Centre. Indigenous caterer Barbra Drummond adds that bush foods strengthen family gatherings and cultural connections, aiming to make native ingredients a routine part of Australian kitchens.