Kakadu's known for its dramatic landscapes...
..ancient Indigenous history,
and sheer abundance of plants.
Aboriginal people have lived in this region for at least 65,000 years,
sourcing food from this incredibly rich land.
I want to learn as much as I can
about the plants that grow here
from the people who know this country best.
I'm heading to Murdudjurl, or Patonga Homestead,
a remote community where bush tucker and non-Indigenous crops
are flourishing in the heart of the outback.
So, how long has the family been on this country?
About 35 years.
Jessie is a traditional owner
and, with her son, Ben, has grown an impressive kitchen garden.
It started with just three bananas.
Now they have hundreds!
Welcome to my garden.
Oh, thank you, Jessie. After you.
Wow!
These are chilli bush again.
There's plenty of chillies on here.
Yeah, I give it away to people.
This is my tamarind tree. Beauty.
I grew it...we grew it from seed.
It's finally growing.
Hopefully, it's gonna fruit this year.
Yeah.
What made you get started with a garden like this?
My son, Ben, he came back from Sydney
'cause he was studying down there
and he helped me start this garden up.
Ben is a talented cook
and recently started a food business with his Aunty Kylie.
He uses produce from his mum's garden
as well as traditional ingredients from the land.
We've been processing this cheeky yam, which is a bush yam.
Mum got me to take it down the creek yesterday, so it's ready today.
You need to put it in the running stream overnight
to take out the cheekiness, the toxins,
and so, yeah...so we can go down there and have a look.
Alright, I'm gonna go and get cheeky.
No worries.
See you soon, Mum. Yeah, see you.
Yeah, this is the... this is our office, yeah.
This is where we take all our important calls.
This is one of the herbs we use for cooking crocodile.
Yeah.
Oh, sort of lemony, mentholly.
Yeah.
You've probably already heard a lot about this one.
It's the green ant.
We call it kabo.
Kabo. Yeah.
We normally eat it as a good medicine if you've got flu or cold.
So, all we do is just crush the leaves in your bucket there
and we'll take 'em up to the table later, up at the camp.
I'm just gonna head in there now and I'll grab some cheeky yams
and waterlilies to bring back for us...
OK. ..for our salad.
Get some andem here, Sam, some waterlilies.
Waterlilies and the cheeky yam here, Costa.
Wow! So...
Wow, these are beautiful. Yeah, they're beautiful.
Now that we've gathered some pretty special ingredients
from the surrounding bush
and borrowed a couple of star fruit from Jessie's garden,
Ben's planning a culinary masterpiece.
So, as you chop up these ingredients, what are you thinking?
Flavour, texture...
So, the cheeky yam and andem are quite neutral.
We've got a bit of sweetness with the star fruit
and a bit of acid with the green ants.
While I think the few hundred ants on the table
might end up being the heroes of the salad,
the cheeky yam is going to act as our base.
Ben's shaved it into fine pieces, ready to roll.
So, what's the method to roll these into balls?
Just sort of squish them together.
See the water coming out.
Oh, yeah, look at that. Yeah.
I've never seen the inside of a waterlily.
You can use it in anything - you know, salads or presentation,
for anything.
They're very versatile.
So, I'm gonna put all these ants in your hands.
I just want you to roll them into a ball.
So, what flavour are these ants adding?
Just gonna add a bit of acid to the sweetness.
Oh, look at 'em all in here.
We'll give it a bit of a squeeze now with the star fruit.
It's like the dressing. Yeah, like the dressing.
It's like a work of art here.
Yeah, it is quite pretty.
Cheeky yam with star fruit,
waterlily stems and seeds,
garnished with green ants.
Now I'll get you to have a taste, and let me know what you think.
OK. Honestly.
And we'll just put this one onto that one.
Yeah, yeah.
OK, so have it as one? Yeah.
Wow!
It's really interesting
because you get the moisture out of the star fruit
and then the tang from the ants,
and it just makes it all work, really.
You know, really, really simple ingredients from the garden.
Presentation is probably
my favourite part of cooking.
Like, it's where you can really get creative.
I'm glad that people can enjoy it as well,
you know, come and share the food from the garden and from the bush.
Hopefully this will bring people back to country,
back to connecting to the land.
When you see this land for yourself and meet such lovely people
willing to share their knowledge,
it'd be impossible to come away without feeling a connection.