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Australian Food
21 / 04 / 2005
Bush tucker menus could soon be available to elderly Aborigines living in far west New South Wales. Meals on Wheels in Australia are considering changing the menu for Aboriginal clients by providing bush tucker ingredients in their home delivery meals. These bush tucker dishes would be healthier and help lower the high rates of diabetes in Aboriginal communities. The chief executive officer of Meals on Wheels NSW, Les McDonald, says “Older Aboriginal people will not eat the (standard) meals because of the nature of the cuisine,” he said.
Some of the ingredients which maybe offered include low fat game meats such as kangaroo and emu, which are high in polyunsaturated fats and low in total fats providing increased health benefits.
An ingredient such as wattleseed which was traditionally eaten as a seedcake by some Aboriginal groups has been shown to have a low glycaemic index. More recently the roasted wattleseed created by Vic Cherikoff as a food flavouring can be used to make delicious dampers, scones, pancakes or even used in condiments such as mustards and sauces. Interestingly because of its low glycaemic index it still slows the absorption rate of foods flavoured with wattleseed.
