Bush Tucker Dinner Cooked in the Fire Pit

The local Bininj Indigenous community have a rich culture in the Kakadu region dating back 65,000 years, so we were really keen to sample their incredibly refined knowledge of fauna and flora which is legendary.

We arrived at the delightful bush garden setting with fire pits next to the Warradjan cultural centre where we were greeted by Jesse, a spritely matriarch, sadly taken as a child from Western Australia to Kakadu, her entrepreneur son Ben in a rakish hat, and her daughters. Gentle smiles all around.

Ben enthusiastically runs Kakadu Foods, a company promoting local bush foods. He proudly spruiked his latest project, green ant non alcoholic gin, before excitedly telling how the UN Agriculture Commission was using his recipes and meeting him next week. He envisioned large, vertical, hydroponic container farms growing all kinds of bush tucker all over Australia.

Jesse's daughter had sent a long yam from Cobourg in Arnhem Land which was singed and then cooked on the fire pit. Local yams, known as bush potatoes also went into the pot. 

A freshly caught local barramundi was held up by another son who tossed his black curls and handed the fish over to his sister who gutted it, then began tying the innards into a neat parcel with intestine then stuffed the cavity with the aromatic eucalyptus leaves of the silver paperbark - everything in the fish gets eaten.

Also on the menu was buffalo or annaburro stew and a lovely fresh damper.

Ben's prize dish was the salad of green ants, water lilies and starfruit.

First we had to walk to see green plum and kakadu plum trees in the Bush and catch our green ants, creatures that sting like mad as they fiercely protect their nest, made from sewn leaves, in their favourite plant. I've been on the receiving end of irate, stinging reception by these ants many times, so was intrigued to see how we would fare.

Ben demonstrated how to firmly clasp hands around the nest then twist off the entire structure from the branch before rolling the whole thing in his hands to come up with a neat ball of stunned ants. I tried the creatures and found them quite fibrous and nutty, not as good on first taste as the lemon ants of Peru.

Next, we chopped the freshly collected water lily stems, a staple for the Bininj.

The entire experience was a delight. As the sun dipped in the sky, drinks were served, the dishes sizzled on the fire, and we had pleasant chats with the hosts and our fellow guests in a convivial mood. 

Fellow guests included a Dutch-Aussie couple living on 260 acres outside Darwin, a Melbourne couple up for a fortnight to escape the cold, and older guests ready to take on the green ants.

Seated at a long table, we chatted, drank and dined our way into the night tinged with the heavy scent of woodsmoke. Ben took out his phone and showed us videos of where they'd collected all the ingredients earlier that afternoon. Well, he did also say that, as they waded to collect water lilies in the billabong they could detect a strong smell of croc so they were 'bit worried' and made it quick!

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Kakadu, Taste of Kakadu, Cooinda, Northern Territory, Green Ants