Indigenous Australian food groups
peoples traditionally classified food sources in a methodical way. Below are a few examples.
Central Australia
In Central Australia, people used innovative means to obtain a balanced diet.The food categories, and their Arrernte names, are:
Tyape atnyematye
- find cracks in the ground underneath a Witchetty bush and dig there
- lever up swollen root where the grubs are located
- eat grubs raw or cooked in hot earth
- squash guts of the grubs onto sores
Ngkwarle honey-like foods; nectar, wild honey, lerps, gum Ngkwarle athenge arlperle, Ngkwarle alkerampwe, Ngkwarle akikarre, Ngkwarle aperarnte, Ngkwarle arwengalkere, Ngkwarle untyeyampe.
Some other category words from Arrernte that are used in relation to food include:- Thipe fleshy flying creatures; birds, bats
- Kwatye water in any form, sources of water; water, rain, clouds
- Arne trees, shrubs, bushes, woody plants, some grasses
- Ure fire, things to do with fire.
Top End
Alternative names: Dhäkadatj; Ŋayaŋay', Buku-bira'Gonyil
Alternative names: Matha-yal, Merrpal'Matha-bira,
Ŋänarr-yal1. Borum— fruits 1. Warrakan'— land animals and birds 2. Guku— bee products 2. Miyapunu— marine mammals 3. Ŋatha— root foods 3. Maranydjalk— rays and sharks 4. Manutji Ŋatha— seeds 4. Guya— fish
4 Honey Beans5. Mudhuŋay— cycad foodstuffs 5. Maypal— shellfish, crabs 6. Mapu— eggs
The old people would talk about the need to eat from both murŋyan and gonyil food groups and the need to supplement their diet with gapu. While this balance was maintained, the people knew they were eating correctly.
When the men would come back from the magpie goose hunt, they would be craving murnyaŋ foods after having eaten so much meat and eggs. Meanwhile, the women, children and old people back in the camps would be looking forward to gonyil, magpie goose meat and eggs, after eating so much murnyaŋ'.