Oz history in food: Australian Family Recipes 1868 to 1950

I love a bit of food history.  Food history is not only quaint and historic recipes.  Possum Pie, Beetroot Beer and Lamingtons: Australian Family Recipes from 1868 to 1950 by Victoria Heywood is a social history of lives gone by.  As of the first of this month, a wonderful contribution to Australian food history has hit the bookstands.  

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Victoria came across many weird, supposedly edible, things in 17 years travelling the world as a journalist, but none so strange as some of the dishes she encountered back home in Australia when researching Possum Pie, Beetroot Beer and Lamingtons. In a writing career spanning 20-odd years, Victoria has written extensively about food, sex, health and travel for magazines and newspapers both here and abroad, and is the author of numerous other books.  One that would be of interest to Oz Tucker lovers is:

More about this book here

Bring the family down for a FREE sausage sizzle and 

some other tasty treats from original Australian cookbooks 

and hear Victoria Heywood chat about her new book:

• Where - Westgarth Books, 77 High Street, Northcote
• When - 12-1 pm, Saturday, October 15, 2011
• Phone - 9482 7117

First Nations food from Australia's past

At the moment there are various events commemorating the ill-fated expedition of Burke and Wills. I have posted about these here. Because Burke and Wills perished through arrogance and ignorance, I wanted to draw attention to this post.

Food blogs are quite sophisticated things these days but we need to keep reminding ourselves of how humanity has nurtured itself in the past.  I think the big lesson to learn is to encourage an inward humility which is willing to learn from the past and to learn from other cultures.  This humility was lacking, by and large, from the Burke and Wills experience and they died in their ignorance and arrogance.

Further reading:

Ancient philosophy of food

What price for Aboriginal food sources?

Laneway leads to Aboriginal careers in food

Charcoal Lane by Jeroxie

Benjamin Christie's Aboriginal food tags

Outback Pride
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