Bushland

Article by: Elizabeth
Last updated: Tuesday, 11-Jul-2006 00:00:00 CEST

The term bushland usually refers to an area that has only a sparse flora and fauna. This term was first used to describe the harsh Australian Outback, the red semi-desert that covers a significant part of the inner continent. The soil is usually very salty and therefore only specialized plants and animals can survive.

Surviving in Bushland

Human survival in the bushlands has a whole mythology evolving around it, with the legendary stories of trackers and bushrangers deeply entrenched in Australian folklore. (examples - Burke, Flinders, Ned Kelly) The best survivors out there are the Aboriginals, who have learned how to blend in with nature and become a part of it.

The bush is a term used for rural, undeveloped land or country areas in many places, such as Australia, New Zealand, Sub-Saharan Africa, Canada, and Alaska.

It is a major distinction of definition of landscape, of cultural context and even political framework for many people in these countries, with strong cultural feelings from the earliest days of European settlement.

Australian Bushland

In Australia it can include agricultural areas and regional settlements, and is more than a simple urban/rural contrast definition. The term is quite specific and does not include the even more remote areas that constitute the outback.

Bushfood refers to any Australian native food, although it sometimes is used with the specific connotation of "food found in the Outback while living on the land". It is also called bushtucker.

In the last decade, industry groups such as the Southern Bushfood Association and many others have been pushing for the introduction of bushfood as genuine cuisine in Australian and international restaurants. The term "Bushfood" is the current term for Australian native cuisine, evolving from the older-style "bushtucker" which was used in the 1970s and 1980s. The word "bushfood" was chosen to reflect the sustainable nature of the industry's products, and to help exporters with product branding. It is the term most often used by Australian Government and CSIRO sources and authors.

Bushfood includes both plant and animal foods. Examples of Australian native animal foods (meat) include kangaroo, emu and crocodile. These meats are not uncommon in Australian restaurants. Other animals, for example the Goanna and the witchetty grub, were eaten by Aboriginal Australians and thus qualify as bushfood in every sense of the word.

Australian Native Plant Foods

Examples of Australian native plant foods include the Quandong (Santalum acuminatum), Bush Raisin or Bush Tomato (Solanum centrale), muntries (Kunzea pomifera), Warrigal Greens (Tetragonia tetragonioides, or New Zealand Spinach), Bunya Nut (the seeds of a very large pine cone), and Mountain Pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata, the Mountain Pepperbush, is one example). The most identifiable (and probably only) bushfood plant harvested and sold in commercial quantities is the macadamia nut