Have you ever suggested to someone they ought to try eating kangaroo or wallaby? Most likely they have said, “Oh, yuk, no thank you”. How about tasting Kangaroo Apple Fruit, Pine Heath Fruit, or Yam Daisy Tubers baked in an oven? Again, probably a resounding “No”.
All of these natural foods are available in Tasmania. Yet, in comparison to many other places globally, nutritious, tasteful, easy-to-grow, and reliable edible food is abundant. We need plants to stay healthy and having a variety is important. Starchy staple foods like maize or root crops give us the energy to live and work. But these should not be refined, which means having all the fibres removed, leaving only white flour or white rice. This can lead to obesity and depression.
Also, we require protein, which can be obtained in beans and leaves, such as cabbage or lettuce. We need nuts and some seeds like roasted watermelon or pumpkin, for example, to provide zinc as these are important to resist disease. Dark green leaves are vital for iron and (preferably cooked in oil) for proVitamin A for our blood and good eyesight. These are just a few examples.
Many scientists around the world are now re-discovering traditional and local food plants. And you might well ask why we can’t have some of them here in Tasmania. The plain answer is we may not have the right growing conditions. Most of us are accustomed to eating the same foodstuffs and resisting change, and big businesses are not going to grow food that is not profitable!
There are about 500 million smallholders mostly in the tropics, who are attempting to feed 2 billion people. There are however constraints. An average farm (85%) in today’s world is less than 2 hectares and those seeking to produce this food are often illiterate and poor. 750 million women can’t read, so materials need to be highly illustrated. Education therefore plays an important part in knowing nutritious plants available.
It is estimated that 161 million children under five years of age are stunted, chronically malnourished, and underweight. In comparison, the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates over 600 million people are obese, with consequences ranging from premature death, chronic health and reduced overall quality of life. Australia is not immune to this as many of us know.
What is the solution? The key is feeding malnourished populations and reducing the consumption of poor-quality food. One way is to share information, which Bruce French (who lives in Devonport) has done for over 60 years as a tropical agriculturalist investigating edible plants and building up a database. This can be viewed online, ‘Food Plants International’ with over 31,400 food sources.
You might ask how Bruce knew if a plant was poisonous or not. After all, recommending plant sources must surely come with a ‘Good to Eat’ tag.
One of the major problems in some countries is the loss of cultural norms of food sources as younger populations flee to live in cities and choose foreign eating habits. Bruces says when the information is hard to come by, locate older people who still know the food source. We might call them an ethnobiologist. To the layman in the village, he might be the elder statesman or the last remaining person of his or her generation, who understands knowledge of plant local names, their ecological characteristics, and food preparation.
Of course, there are thousands of edible plants we in the West do not know about, but the local people grow and eat them daily across the global agricultural terrains. Figures 1-4 are samples.
You might like to select some of these plants that are suitable to grow in Tasmania. If not, approach your local Community Garden and see if they are interested? The best of luck!