Cooking with native ingredients
Unique taste & texture
The use of native ingredients reveals their unique taste, texture, savour and bring forward their health benefits too.
Sustainable
Indigenous cuisine only takes from the earth the necessary ingredients that have been on our doorstep for 1000s of years.
Superfood
Native ingredient are considered ‘superfood’, with flavour and nutritional properties good for our tastebuds and our health.
Bring us together
In indigenous communities, gathering around a meal and sharing stories is key. The taste of the meal is crucial too.
Chef Aunty Beryl
To create this unique range available right in your home, we have been honoured to partner with Indigenous Chef, Aunty Beryl Van-Oploo. Aunty Beryl represents a bridge between traditional, authentic indigenous food and familiar, modern dishes that any Australian can enjoy.
As a Gamilaroi Elder, she has over 50 years of culinary know-how, deep knowledge of native ingredients such as the ones used in these unique meals: Pepperberries, Illawara Plums, Lemon Myrtle, Quandong and Salt Bush.
She is an expert at modernising Bush Tucker cuisine. A food tech graduate of East Sydney TAFE, Aunty Beryl is 100% focused on the future of indigenous food. “With this partnership we’re giving everybody a chance to try native cuisine.” says Chef Aunty Beryl.
Our 5 inventive meals
Native ingredients
Quandong
This shiny and bright scarlet fruit has a sweet taste with a balancing slightly sour and salty aftertaste. The flesh is highly nutritious and contains twice the vitamin C of an orange.
Finger lime
A native citrus prized for its unique caviar-like pulpe. This finger-shaped fruit contains glistening "citrus pearls" that will explode in a juicy sweet and refreshing burst when bitten.
Pepperberry
Also known as Mountain Pepper, they are used as food flavouring or in traditional medicine. Both leaves and berries may be used fresh or dried to add a spicy, peppery flavour to food.
Illawarra Plum
This juicy grape-like texture fruit is sweetish and has a mild pine flavour that is enhanced by cooking. It contains a hard inedible seed. It is usually added to sauces, marinades or fruit compotes.
Paperbark
Coming from the Melaleuca quiquenervia or Paperbark tree, the paperbark is used for artwork or to cook foods like the Barramundi. It adds a delightful smoky flavour to the food.
Warringal Greens
The Australian English spinach. Native from both Australia and New Zealand, they contain high level of vitamin C. They are used in soups, stews or stir fry or as steamed vegetables.
Lemon Myrtle
Referred as the "Queen of the Lemon Herbs", it boasts an intensely citrus fragance and flavour. Its fresh tangy leaves can be used in teas, syrups, dressings and sauces.
Salt Bush
A typical bush tucker with the leaves salty in flavour and rich in protein, antioxidants and mineral. It can be enjoyed as sautéed or alternatively as a dried herb.
Our commitment
The “Indigenius” Project, is a long term commitment for us. From the 5 meals we are launching early June, at least 2 or 3 will stay on the menu for the rest of the year, and more will be added later.
It is also a project for the greater good, as we will be donating 10% of the value of each meal sold to help fund a very important community project that Aunty Beryl is supporting called EORA. EORA (meaning “Home“ in Gadigal language) is an Aboriginal Elders Estate development in Parramatta, with homes built around a circular plan, the traditional way.