Native foods from all over the world.

19 years ago

I have been gardening for three years already. Recently, I have started to explore the possibility of edible ornamental plants, which are expected to occupy a more dominant feature in my garden. A WWW search has mostly revealed many websites which mention native foods without details on a satisfactory level. (sort-of by-the-way footnotes). I guess many would like to find such websites, so I am contributing one name to the list, hoping it will grow bigger.

Here is a good website on Australian native food:

http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/bushtucker/

Comments (3)

drasaid
19 years ago
One must remember, bush tucker was what was eaten because there was nothing else to eat!
I am fond of the Plants for a Future site; those guys actually eat the stuff and rate it. Edible does not mean tasty, unfortunatly.
I have some Periskia cacti. Is that a cacti whose fruit is eaten in Israel? I know you all eat a lot of Opuntia; I got some thornless Opuntia and I find it's not ever going to develop into nice flat round shapes because my BullTerriers are eating it (so, all the pads have suspicious nips.)
sheilaliehs
19 years ago
One thing we did, after putting in our favourites, was to look to our aboriginal peoples and native plants. Many of the elders like to share their knowledge: personal one-on-one; local history/lore = check your local independent bookstore; university classes/radio talk; festivals and gatherings. The local native plant society can often point you to great nursery stock/seed sources/seed banks. My kids are also interested in the first people's culture, technology and arts ( esp. basketry). We are also birdwatchers. I'm interested in herbal medicines. It made sense to include native edibles into our 'domesticated' landscape since they thrive in this area and serve numerous purposes not only for us but for the wildlife. Unfortunately, we are becoming an island in a suburbian wasteland ('unfortunate' in that there is a flurry of construction which equals shrinking habitat for wildlife and native plants). Using a 'forest' approach we have been able to 'layer' the landscaping with many plants in a small area. The native plants do well and are pest free.
We are blessed with living in an area that has some delicious natives ... perhaps some are an acquired taste LOL but we mix and match and experiment.
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tired_of_digging
Original Author
19 years ago
Hi drasaid

I have not encountered the name Periskia, Possibly you meant Pereskia. What we do eat here and in the neighbouring countries is the prickly-pear (Opuntia Ficus-Indica). Some would even cook the pads, but I'm unfamiliar with the process. I have even found some articles, about edible cacti. caution should be exercised, so buy only labled cacti, because there are many look-alikes. I had quite a tough time identifying mine!
And, my thanks also to sheila for the advise.