Australia is famous for lamingtons and the beloved meat pie, but researchers want to transform our traditional cuisine to include native bush foods like Illawarra plums, pindan walnuts and wattleseed.
While Indigenous communities have long known the benefits of bush tucker such as bunya nuts, lemon aspen, riberries, desert limes and Cape York lilly pilly, the foods remain largely untapped for Australian's food industry.
The University of Queensland (UQ) and the Australia Research Council's Training Centre for Uniquely Australian Foods wants to change that and is working in partnership with Traditional Owners to turn the foods into branded products.
Centre director Associate Professor Yasmina Sultanbawa said the health and nutrition benefits of native foods was understudied.
The centre is a collaboration of local and international experts and scientists, as well as a cohort of PhD students, who will support Indigenous groups get native products to a commercial market.
Food scientists will provide research on composition, toxicity and safety, UQ's law school will assist with intellectual property, marketing and branding, and social scientists will monitor the impact on local communities.
Associate Professor Sultanbawa said the aim was to push the native foods industry forward to meet widespread demand.
