Aboriginal Dining Etiquette in Australia

The First Nations People had protocols and etiquette that governed their lives, from what to catch and when to eat certain foods. These early people had their own customs and dining etiquette.

Food is life and for the Indigenous Australians, food is precious and sacred. Who are the Indigenous Australians? They are Aboriginals and Torres Straight Islanders inhabiting the mainland and the 8,222 islands. Australia is the land of plenty.

The First Nations People had protocols and etiquette that governed their lives, from what to catch and when to eat certain foods. These early people had their own customs and dining etiquette. 

What we know: The Australian Law Reform Commission describes Indigenous peoples as the “sole surviving representatives of hunters and gatherers in Oceania” and “bush food continues to form part of the diet of many Aboriginal people outside urban areas.”

Traditionally, there was a strong link between the Indigenous hunting and gathering, the spiritual and regeneration of land, water and fire. There would be an exercise of mindfulness, totemic dance ceremonies where men would share secret names of animals for the management of natural resources, such as the reproduction of animals and insects used for food purposes and the regeneration of vegetation.

The Commission goes onto to explain that there where protocols as to what food that you could consume and “food taboos”:

• a person cannot eat an animal, fruit or vegetable if it is their own totem;
• pregnant women and young women must eat the right food as directed by the elders.”

Studies conducted found that some tribes consumed approximately 90 animal species and 80 plant species. Compared to today in the Western world, where we eat approximately 20 or fewer types of meat and fish. Bush food, otherwise known in Australia as ‘bush tucker’, was eaten mindfully and taken medicinally; they took from the land what they needed and stored it in small quantities. 

Here are lists of foods that they ate seasonally, and were very dependent on the areas they lived in.

• Meats: Kangaroos, Wallabies, Lizards, Emus, Ducks, Crocodiles, Possums, Echidnas, Snakes, Fish, Shellfish, Bilby, Wild Turkey, Dugong, Turtles, Rabbit, Anteaters.
• Insects: Witchetty Grub, Caterpillars, Cicadas, Green Ants, Moths and Beetles.
• Vegetables: Warrigal Greens, Yams, Water Spinach, Bush Tomato, Sea Celery, Salt Bush, Parakeeyla, Sea Asparagus, Southern Seablite, Bloodroot Crystal, Ice Plant, Youlk Potato, Barilla Spinach, Peppercresses, Bush Onion, Native Pigweed.
• Alcohol: Sap of the cider gum.
• Fruit: Kakadu Plum, Finger Lime, Davidson's Plum, Quandong, Wild Orange, Passionfruit, Native Banana, Native Coconut, Mulga Apple, Illawarra Plums, Beach Banana, Lilly Pilly Bush, Banana Or Silky Pear, Breadfruit, Rainforest Cherries, Sunrise Lime, Boab Fruit, Rainforest Lemon, Kangaroo Apple, Quandong, Blood Lime, Desert Lime, Johnstone's River Satinash, Cluster Fig.
• Seeds: Wattle Seed, Cycad Seeds, Casuarina Seeds, Mulga Seeds, Dead Finish Seed, Woollylbutt Grass Seed.
• Eggs: Birds and Lizards.
• Berries: Munthari Berry, Lemon Myrtle, Conkerberry, Ruby Saltbush, Bullock Bush, Native Currant, Atherton Raspberry, Native Juniper, Sparrow's Mango.
• Nuts: Sandalwood Nut, Bunya Nut, Sandalwood Nut, Pindan Walnut,Pandanus, Macadamia Nuts, Sea Almond.
• Honey And Nectars: Native Honey Ants & Bees, Bloodwood, Banksia, Corkwood, Banksia Honey Grevillea Trees.
• Flour: Ground From Grains & Grass Seeds - Acacia Seeds, Native Millet, Kangaroo Grass, Mitchell Grass, Button Grass, Weeping Grass.
• Teas: Peppermint Gum, Strawberry Gum, Elderflower, Blue Spotted Gum, Tick Bush Flower.
• Herbs: Lemon Myrtle, Anise Myrtle, Cinnamon Myrtle, Native Mint, Tamarind Chocolate Lily, Native Lemon Grass, Lemon Verbena, Wild Rosella, Native Thyme, River Mint, Sea Parsley, Bush Sea Rosemary, Wild Basil.
• Spice: Geraldton Wax, Native Caper, Pepper Berry, Native Curry Plant.

Uluru.gov.au explains that it was a woman’s traditional role to forage and prepare food using implements such as wood bowls, digging sticks, and grinding stones. Men were responsible for hunting and foraging, as well as the maintenance of tools such as weapons and hunting devices and creating homes and canoes.

Food would be cooked over open fires or coals, dirt ovens, or hot rock cooking (cooking with rocks heated by fire then put in water). Bush food would be cooked in ways such as boiling, steaming, roasting, smoking. Proteins would be cooked with their skins on and eaten fresh or wrapped in leaves, barks, or paperbark, tied with fish rushes. Storage for dried fruit, berries, grains, teas, and spices may have been created from clay, straw, bark and wood.

So, what is the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dining etiquette? Queensland Health sheds light on this:

“There were special rules for dividing food and the Elders received the best portions of each food. But Torres Strait Islanders, because of ‘good pasin’ (cultural sharing), shared the same best portion of the food. When Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders cooked foods, there was also a lot of singing and dancing. This dancing and singing is known as a ‘Corroboree’, ‘shake-a-leg’ or traditional island dancing.”

In a communal sharing area food was served on bark, leaves, straw, in wooden bowls or platters. Fruit, nuts, and berries were gathered and taken from baskets woven from native grasses or pandanus fibre called coolamons or dilly bags. The First Nations people would use their fingers, like the South Asians or Arabs, and graze while enjoying the company of their family and extended relatives.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dining etiquette is grounded in environmental mindfulness and respect for the land, rather than in rooms set with silverware, crockery, tables, and formal entertaining areas. Their connection to animals, insects, and plants was profound, and they cared for them with reverence. Unlike tending to a small apartment or confined space, their home was the open country—vast, boundless lands that sustained them.

For many years, Etiquipedia contributor, Elizabeth Soos, has had a keen interest in cultural customs. With her European background and extensive travel, Soos developed an interest in the many forms of respect and cultural expectations in the countries she has visited. With her 20 years’ experience in customer service within private international companies based in Australia, and her lifetime interest in manners and research, she decided to branch out into the field of etiquette and deportment. Through her self-directed studies and by completing the Train-The-Trainer’s course offered by Emma Dupont’s School of Etiquette in London and by Guillaume Rue de Bernadac at Academie de Bernadac based in Paris and Shanghai, she founded Auersmont School of Etiquette. Until recently, Elizabeth was traveling throughout India and brushing up on her Hindi. She is now back in her native Australia, writing etiquette articles, furthering her education, and continuing her etiquette research.

 🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia