The projects primary aim is to provide Indigenous enterprise and people the opportunity to develop their ideas and business in an authentic Australian bush food supply chain.

 

Native Australian bush foods are becoming increasingly popular as ingredients and condiments for everyday meals.  Bush foods are now sold widely in food stores, including supermarkets such as Coles, who have been instrumental in helping transform a wild harvest supply chain into a demand driven horticultural one over the last decade. 

 

The Foundations objective therefore, is leveraging this demand to assist Indigenous enterprise to play the key authentic role in developing these foods and this market to their benefit as well as those consuming Australia’s natural bounty. 

 

By consuming foods with bush food ingredients, all Australians can enjoy tasting the natural flavours and fruits of this country while indirectly engaging with Indigenous Australian culture. 

 

For over 200 years Australians have embraced many immigrant cultures, particularly through food, and made it part of their own.  Now is the time we do the same for Indigenous Australian culture.  Bush foods in everyday meals can help break down some of the myths and barriers that exist.  Consuming them can make us all proud of what we grow, prepare and eat.  The Foundation likes to characterise this as edible reconciliation.

 

Brands such as Outback Spirit provide a product range that showcases these bush food ingredients.  Products like Kakadu Plum or Bush Tomato sauces; Lemon Aspen and Wild Lime dressings; Quandong (wild Peach), herbs like Lemon Mytle, Native Mint, Thyme and Pepper Berries and exotic flowers such as Rosella all add beautiful flavours and an authentic taste of Australia.

 

The Foundation’s support for Indigenous growers is therefore crucial.  Such support provides regional & remote Indigenous growers, like the projects illustrated, with commercial buyers for their crops and to achieve a higher level of economic independence.  It has also brought hope and reward for their efforts as well as pride in seeing their produce and heritage being valued by all Australians.

 

These bush food projects, operated by Indigenous enterprises, are successful economic models growing with consumer demand.  Join us in helping them grow and multiply.