Food in Australia

The presence of many different cultural groups settled in Australia has led to our cuisine becoming an exciting fusion of ingredients and flavours.

Students will engage with food in Australia by investigating, preparing and tasting bush foods to discover how First Nations peoples' diet began to evolve when the first settlers farmed food on this land.

• Learn traditional and contemporary methods of cooking and the uses of native bush foods by Aboriginal peoples.
• Learn how traditional bush foods are incorporated into contemporary, modern cuisine.
• Taste recipes with ‘bush food’ additions.

• Appreciate the timeline of food in Australia from Aboriginal peoples' culture to First Farm, then numerous cultural groups who have settled here, to the reintroduction of Indigenous ingredients into our cuisine to create 'bush foods'.
• Explore the different types of traditional foods eaten by Aboriginal peoples; the methods of collection and processing.
• Learn how the traditional Aboriginal peoples' diet was influenced by location
• Appreciate and value the wide variety of foods available in Australia now and the contributions from a range of cultures.
• Assist in the preparation of simple recipes that have been adapted to include native ingredients.

Focus Syllabus Outcomes

Food Technology 

• Justifies food choices by analysing the factors that influence eating habits (FT5-7)
• Selects and employs appropriate techniques and equipment for a variety of food-specific purposes (FT5-10)
• Plans, prepares, presents and evaluates food solutions for specific purposes (FT5-11)
• Examines the relationship between food, technology and society (FT5-12)
• Evaluates the impact of activities related to food on the individual, society and the environment (FT5-13)

Aboriginal Studies

• Describes the factors that contribute to an Aboriginal person’s identity (5.1)
• Explains ways in which Aboriginal peoples maintain their identity (5.2)
• Describes the dynamic nature of Aboriginal cultures (5.3)
• Analyses the interaction of the wider Australian community with Aboriginal peoples and cultures (5.8)