It's Reconciliation Week.
It's an important time for Australia's First Nations people
as we acknowledge our culture and our relationship with country,
especially when it comes to growing and harvesting
our native vegetation.
Aunty Beryl Van-Oploo and well-known TV chef Kylie Kwong
are trailblazers and educators
when it comes to using Aussie native ingredients in cooking.
Well, ladies, now, we've all been friends for a long time.
Yes, we have. We've bonded over bush foods.
And now, look, here we are, fully native garden.
And hopefully we remain friends for the rest of my life.
Forever. (LAUGHS)
Forever indeed.
Aunty, you've been in this area for a long time,
but you grew up out west in the bush.
That's right. I come from Walgett, NSW, I'm a Gamilaroi lady.
And I grew up on the riverbank up there
on the Namoi and Barwon-Darling River,
and everything was done on the river.
So that's how I learned to find the plants with my elders
and we just lived so healthy because we caught the fish in the river,
we cooked on the river, we did an open fire -
an earth oven they call it this day and age now -
and it was just amazing
and I think that's what has kept me healthy.
Kylie, there were a lot of chance meetings
that brought about your love of bush foods.
Can you tell me about that? Yeah, absolutely.
When I discovered Australian native produce,
it was a major light bulb moment for me.
And, of course, I wanted to learn from the best teachers,
First Australians,
and that's how I came across you.
We met at Carriageworks Farmers Market and I used to buy
all of your beautiful produce.
Yep.
And you have taught me so much, Aunty,
about how to prepare and cook native ingredients traditionally.
You know, Aunty taught me how she used to steam fish, for example,
wrapped up in saltbush leaves,
or how you not only bake with lemon myrtle
but also use it in seafood and meat cooking.
And remember, I always used to come to your stall
and buy up your stock of those delicious
lemon myrtle butter biscuits.
That's right. They were so good.
And those beautiful jams and sauces you used to make.
That's right.
That's where it all started.
That's where it all started. Yes.
And then I sought you out.
You were working at the Royal Botanical Gardens
looking after all of the native plants.
And I have to say,
the last 10 years since I've met the both of you,
my life has become so much richer.
I mean, I'm just so blessed.
Even though you both come from different cultural backgrounds,
there's so many similarities.
There is. Well, I mean, we just have this instant connection.
That's right. We both love food and families.
That's right.
And I think that's why we connected in the first place
because of that background.
And then we got to talking about food and plants
and what we could do,
and that's why Kylie went into it
because she knows that in our culture,
there's sweet and sour
and that's what her culture is as well,
so it worked.
Well, that was it, that was another discovery.
When I started cooking with
or integrating native ingredients into my Cantonese-style cooking,
there was this natural simpatico.
And, yes, we love sweet and sour. That's right.
Like, the sweetness of the sugarbag honey
and one of my favourite ingredients, the Davidson plum,
that sour, acidic flavour.
So sweet and sour. Mmm.
We're here in Reconciliation Week.
But what does reconciliation mean to you, Aunt?
Reconciliation mean to me where we can share our culture
with other people
and our food mainly
because that's what it's all about.
It's sharing and caring.
For us, it's all about relationships, collaboration,
community and families.
But as you and I both know,
it's always food that brings us all together.
That's right. Everybody has to eat.
Everybody has to eat. (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS)
I'm going to head back to my restaurant now
so I can prepare you a delicious bush tucker feast.
We'll be there, won't we, Clarence?
Oh, we'll be there, alright.
See you soon. Thanks, Kylie.
Aunt, it's such a beautiful day.
Should we look around the garden and some plants?
Yes, that's great.
You picked a great day to come up, Aunt.
Oh, it's a beautiful day. I'm glad I'm up here.
A lot of these species you would've used in your own cooking.
Oh, yes, the saltbush, I use a lot of that in salads and savoury dishes
or I do chop it up and put it into sausage rolls or, you know.
It's a very versatile plant for me.
And a few of the others, the bush mint and river mint,
do you use those?
Yes, I use the bush mint because you only have to use a little bit.
Yeah, and that's the thing about a lot of our native species,
the flavour is just so intense.
It is.
Aunt, one of the favourites on the roof is the finger lime.
We've finally got them to fruit.
Oh, that's great because I use a lot of finger limes.
I use them in savoury dishes,
I use them in sweets, I use them in biscuits.
It's also good for medicinal purposes as well.
It's incredible how, you know, something that we both grew up with
and just took for granted, people are so interested in now.
Oh, yes, they are.
And I know a lot of my friends
are starting to grow it in their backyards as well.
Then there's the other end of the spectrum
where people like Kylie are using these ingredients.
Yeah. We'll go down there.
Maybe she's making saltbush dumplings or something.
(LAUGHS) Let's go.
KYLIE: Hello.
Hi, Kylie. How are you?
How's my favourite aunt? You're my favourite aunt.
How are you, my brother? Thank you.
Have a seat.
(LIVELY CHATTER)
Alright, are you hungry?
Yeah. Yes, we are.
This is our red-braised, caramelised pork belly
with a native Davidson plum
and this one here is my stir-fried Australian native greens.
Looks great.
They look so good, they smell so good.
This is my favourite dish.
And there's about four different species in there -
the warrigal greens, the saltbush,
the karkalla, which is that beautiful succulent on the top,
and then there's some seablite.
And I've stir-fried it simply
with vegetable oil, ginger, tamari
and sesame oil.
So have a try.
What do you think? Delicious.
Delicious? This is beautiful.
Phew. Mmm.
(LAUGHS) Really good.
And how are most of your customers taking to these flavours?
The customers love it.
And they love hearing the story of how it grew,
how it was used traditionally
and they love the fact that it was literally grown and harvested
50 metres from the restaurant, thanks to Clarence.
That's great.
So, Aunt, you've been using, you know, native plants
in your traditional way.
What do you think of the way I cook it?
I think it's really great how you've combined it with the ginger.
Give it that little bit of extra flavour
because the saltiness is there from the saltbush.
Yes.
And then with the warrigal greens,
that's got a peppery taste.
Yes. And that combination is fabulous.
And I love the texture, you know, it's succulent,
it's really juicy.
And the colours and the flavour of the native ginger.
This is an interesting looking drink, Kylie.
It's so beautiful.
It's got an aroma.
So this is what we call Lucky Kwong Community Soda.
It's made from the saltbush, from this site,
and also the native bush mint, which you grew,
and the pink is from the seeds of the Davidson plum.
And 100% of the sales go towards Seed Mob,
which is Australia's first Indigenous youth climate network.
So it's a drink for good and it's beautiful, what's more,
and it's made from these beautiful Australian natives here.
That's great.
Well, it's all about culture, community, collaboration
and celebration of Reconciliation Week.
Absolutely. ALL: Cheers.
That's good.