Travel Bug Within

A travel blog inspiring mid-life adventurers to chase their wanderlust and explore further

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • Australia
      • New South Wales
      • Northern Territory
      • Queensland
      • South Australia
      • Tasmania
      • Victoria
      • Western Australia
    • Fiji
    • New Zealand
    • Asia
      • Bali
      • Hong Kong
      • Japan
      • Thailand
      • UAE
      • Vietnam
    • Europe
    • Iceland
    • Ireland
    • United Kingdom
      • England
      • Scotland
      • Wales
    • USA
      • Hawaii
  • My Adventures
    • Solo
    • Family
    • Single Mum Travel Tales
  • Travel Advice
    • My Top Five or Ten
    • Hotel and Restaurant Reviews
    • Book Reviews
  • Other Stories
    • Feature profile and lifestyle stories
  • About
    • About Me with the travel bug
    • Contact
    • Why the name Travel Bug Within
Home » Adventure » A Taste of Kakadu celebrates more than Indigenous food

A Taste of Kakadu celebrates more than Indigenous food

March 16, 2020 By Jennifer Johnston Leave a Comment

Last updated 21 July 2020

 Northern Territory’s Kakadu National Park

Taste of Kakadu in the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park is an immersive Indigenous Food Festival celebrating local bush food, culture, and country. I experienced part of the 2019 Taste of Kakadu taking the opportunity to connect with Indigenous Australians and appreciate their culture first-hand.

Indigenous artist Jacqueline Cahill and daughter demonstrate painting at Bowali Visitor Centre Kakadu National Park during the Taste of Kakadu Festival May 2019

The Bowali Visitor Centre

The scent of freshly cooking food wafts on the air around the visitor centre. Located five kilometres from Kakadu’s main township of Jabiru, the Bowali Visitor Centre has transformed into an outdoor kitchen.

Mark Olive, one of Australia’s popular indigenous chefs is cooking up a storm in a free Masterclass cooking demonstration. It’s the first day of The Taste of Kakadu Festival,

The annual festival is held in May at the start of the dry season. The 2019 Festival ran for 10 days from May 10 to 19.  During the Festival visitors to Kakaducould choose from an assortment of interactive food experiences, designed to give an insight into how Australia’s oldest living culture – estimated to be 65,000 years – have prepared native foods, like crocodile, buffalo, barramundi flavoured with local fruit and bush herbs, for tens of thousands of years.

Under the shade of a pop-up gazebo, Mark is whipping up a kangaroo stir-fry with Singapore noodles, using fresh vegetables and herbs, including thyme, chili, rosemary, lavender and native mountain pepper.

“Did you know native pepper helps stop your food from spoiling?” Mark asks the audience.

Mark Olive during the Master Class demonstration cooking kangaroo stir-fry with fresh native herbs. With Dan Bourchier- ABC and assistant James; Image credit: Parks Australia

Here’s a PDF copy of my story published in BNE Magazine #37

BNE Magazine issue 37 March. April 2020 Taste of Kakadu story

Birds flying over Yellow Waters in Kakadu National Park

This year’s festival was to be 22-31 May, but it was canceled because of Covid-19.

I hope the Festival will return in 2021 as it is one heck of an opportunity to interact with our nation’s First Peoples and learn about how they have sourced food and lived in harmony with this land for over 60,000 years.

Filed Under: Adventure, Destinations, Northern Territory Tagged With: #seeaustralia, Australia, Bush tucker, Food festivals in Australia, Indigenous culture, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Taste of Kakadu Festival

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Who is Travel Bug Within?

A mid-life adventurer sharing stories about interesting places in an honest and occasionally sarcastic way.

I hope to tickle your wanderlust and encourage you to explore further via Travel Bug Within

Jennifer x

Logo of the Australian Society of Travel Writers

For feature stories click on the bird logo linking to my personal website

Copyright Jennifer Johnston 2014 • Site by Swish Design