Feature by Max Brearley

Western Australia has a wealth of experiences designed to give visitors or locals unrivalled insight into the world’s oldest continuous food culture, whether it’s on Country, or in the heart of the city.

First Australians have the world’s oldest continuing culture, and by virtue, its oldest food ethos. It’s a culture tied closely to seasonal structures – distinctly different to spring, summer, autumn and winter – where shifts coincide with climate, rainfall, the movement of animals and the cycles of natural life.

Josh Whiteland, a Wadandi man from the South West of Western Australia and the owner of Koomal Dreaming, echoes an ethos of respect that underlies Aboriginal food culture and care for country when he says his ancestors “lived and died to ensure the health and prosperity of the land. Because if you take too much today, how will you eat tomorrow?”

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Coastal experiences figure strongly around Western Australia. Based in the Margaret River region, on Wadandi country, Whiteland introduces guests to the Noongar seasons: birak, bunuru, djeran, makuru, djilba and kambarang. Depending on the season, you could be huddled around a campfire on one of Whiteland’s cultural tours as he smokes mussels foraged that morning, or he may cook up kangaroo on a nearby barbecue. If conditions are right, you may find yourself joining him and casting a rod from a beach on Geographe Bay or off the rocks at a proven fishing spot.

At Gutharraguda, or Shark Bay, 770 kilometres north of Perth, Darren “Capes” Capewell of Wula Gura Nyinda Eco Adventures leaves a lasting impression from the moment you get into his 4WD. Pulling in as he spots endemic herbs and succulents, Capewell points out wildlife within the World Heritage-listed Francois Peron National Park, and puts it in context of culture. A Nhanda and Malgana man, he revels in chipping native oysters from the rocks and offering them up raw, taking a few for himself as he goes. He lights a small fire on the pindan red beach (strictly prohibited for visitors, but a cultural right as a Traditional Owner) to gently smoke the oysters, transforming them as he does: smoky, still briny and wonderfully textured. There are few culinary experiences that can match it, and those that can are also likely found on the Indian Ocean coast.

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At Karratha in the Pilbara, Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi man Clinton Walker has forged a reputation through Ngurrangga Tours. Chef Paul Iskov, who has garnered national and international praise for his pop-up dining experience Fervor, says Walker has shown him many different ingredients from a number of locations. “Every year it’s something different; his tours are incredible,” Iskov says.

While noting the field of Australian produce he uses “is ever expanding as we visit different regions, change with the seasons and incorporate unique ingredients into our cuisine,” he says it’s drawing on relationships with Traditional Owners like Walker that make all the difference.

“We've got mud crabs and bush potatoes, wild passionfruit, bush coconuts, native lemongrass, and all kinds of coastal herbs,” Iskov says. “It blows my mind because it's different every time.”

Further east in the Kimberley there’s a wealth of experiences, from mud-crabbing on the Dampier Peninsula, to the Mangrove Discovery Experience (or Bagul Bagul Tour) in Broome with Bart Pigram of Narlijia Experiences. A Yawuru man, Pigram guides his guests through the mangroves at low tide, identifying native ingredients, pointing out octopuses’ holes in the mud, native crustaceans, and explaining the wider history of Broome and its diverse pearling past.

While many experiences are regional, the use of native ingredients is becoming more widespread in both home and professional kitchens, led by Traditional Owners and chefs both Aboriginal, and many non-Aboriginal, in heritage.

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Wardandi Bibbulmun woman Dale Tilbrook does bush tucker talks and tastings. Based in the Swan Valley, just 30 minutes from central Perth, Tilbrook is renowned within the West Australian food scene for her knowledge of native ingredients, and hosts sessions at her gallery space Maalinup, centred on both the culinary and wellbeing value of ingredients.

“I have an array of food available for everybody to sniff, touch and taste. That ranges from fresh beach herbs through to herbs from other parts of Australia,” Tilbrook says.

While the focus is those ingredients that are endemic to Western Australia, Tilbrook sees a value in educating guests as to non-endemic ingredients that are grown in plantation

“We fresh pick from our gardens [for workshops] – native thyme, native oregano and then we have all the native limes that are growing here in plantation, dried bush tomatoes and sandalwood nuts,” she says.

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Then there are the chefs cooking with native ingredients, like Rohan Park at Old Young’s Kitchen in the Swan Valley.

“He’s got a lot of knowledge about the use of various native ingredients through his own work and through his work with Fervor,” Tilbrook says.

She says Park is another example of a young chef creating a modern Australian menu from native ingredients, mindful of culture, wanting to know the backstory of an ingredient, and understanding it’s not just another commodity. Seasonally you could expect scallops served raw with loquat and native lemongrass or kangaroo tartare with youlk, a native tuber, emu egg yolk and a house-made garum.

Park isn’t alone in his reverence of native ingredients. From its inception, Wildflower – the signature restaurant at COMO The Treasury hotel – has structured its menus around the Noongar calendar. Many of the restaurants of the South West also see native ingredients as a way of conveying a sense of place within menus; kitchens such as Voyager Estate just south of Margaret River township, and Yarri in the coastal town of Dunsborough are notable in this pursuit.

Published April 2022.