Watch The Cook and the Chef online: Episode 7 Native Foods

In this episode Maggie and Simon cook with Australian Native Foods – ‘old’ or wild foods that have not been altered by breeding so they retain high levels of vitamins and antioxidants. These foods provided indigenous Australians with a varied and rich diet for over 40,000 years before European settlement. Maggie and Simon demonstrate how native foods can add unique flavours to everyday recipes, we visit the Spirit Festival for some traditional bush tucker and see how students at Renmark High School are cultivating a commercial crop of Kutjera or Desert Raisins. In this new world of climate change, Australian Native Foods are being seen as foods of the future because they’ve evolved over thousands of years to suit Australian soils and climate. Although early settlers cooked native foods like kangaroo, swan, possum, fruits and berries, once farming was established they reverted to more traditional fare. Fast forward to the 1980s and native foods are rediscovered along with their unique flavours. In this program we visit the Spirit Festival where Warren Miller a Wirangu and Kokatha man demonstrates how he cooks wombat and kangaroo tails. Usually cooked in the ground, Warren has modified his cooking methods for the city. Back in the kitchen Maggie cooks her version of kangaroo tails – in a suet pastry pie and Simon cooks a super quick meal of Cockles with a native herb and spice twist. We visit Renmark High School where a group of students are involved in a pilot project with a bush food producer to cultivate a commercial crop of 26,000 Kutjera or Desert Raisins. This crop uses ¼ of the water of traditional Riverland crops and has 10 times the vitamin C of an orange. Back in the kitchen Maggie cooks Quandong Clafoutis with a macadamia crust while Simon cooks barramundi with desert limes, desert raisins and native spices all wrapped in paperbark. Australian Native Foods – a program that explores a whole new world of ancient and sustainable foods. Recipes: - Kangaroo Tail Pie - Quandong Clafoutis - Cockles with Native Herbs - Barramundi in Paperbark

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