Ngarku’adlu (Let’s Eat) | Adelaide Festival 2021 review
Inspirational Aboriginal cooks prepare a series of dinners and less formal daytime picnics celebrating Indigenous culture and food.
Adelaide Festival
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Ngarku’adlu (Let’s Eat)
Food & Drink / AUS
Barr Smith Lawns
March 13 and 14
While travelling in her work as an event organiser and ethical food advocate, Rebecca Sullivan would constantly bang on about eating local and sourcing ingredients from nearby farms and producers.
Then, one day back home, it dawned on her. She was being a total hypocrite.
Truly eating local, she realised, should mean utilising the ingredients that are native to this land.
She tells this story while introducing Ngarku’Adlu (Let’s Eat), a series of dinners and less formal daytime picnics celebrating Indigenous culture and food that are part of the Adelaide Festival.
The events have been curated by Sullivan and her partner Damien Coulthard, founders of native food company Warndu. They have brought together a collective of inspirational Aboriginal cooks, producers, performers and ambassadors from across the country the likes of which have rarely, if ever, been seen before. The University of Adelaide and SA Museum are playing host and the spirit of co-operation and belief in what all are achieving is palpable.
This is much more than food on a plate. At the heart of each dining experience are the connections between key ingredients and people and places and stories.
Coulthard, an Adnyamathanha man who grew up near Quorn in the Flinders Ranges, tells how the taste of quandongs takes him back to his land and a yearning for the days spent collecting the fruit with his nan. Others recount the special relationship their people have with creatures such as pipis, emu and kangaroo.
The evening sessions, on the lawns in front of the SA Museum, begin with a gathering around firepits for a drink and a quick lesson in playing the yidaki (didgeridoo), before sitting at long tables beneath a marquee.
The food, prepared by WA-based pop-up operators Fervor, introduces an astonishing array of new flavours in six sophisticated compositions, all beautifully plated, especially given the challenges of feeding close to 250 people outdoors.
Memorable dishes include shredded crocodile leg with the native tuber “youlk” in a sublime Murray cod broth with lemon myrtle oil. Cured emu fillet is as supple as the finest beef and partnered by kangaroo grass, a rye cracker and shaved emu egg yolk.
Globetrotting indigenous chef Clayton Donovan also contributes with his signature kangaroo loin that takes the place of venison in a French-inspired combination with beetroot and chocolate sauce.
Guests are invited to toast marshmallows back out at the fire pits to finish the night.
The picnic earlier in the day explores similar themes in a more relaxed setting. Umbrellas and raincoats are out in force, as a happy, receptive crowd, including plenty of small children, collect the various components of their lunch and settle at tables beneath the shelter of a most welcome marquee.
Performances of dance and music, as well as an interview with the impassioned Donovan, add layers of cultural context, as guest explore a tasting box of nuts, fruits, cheeses and greens all touched by native ingredients. Separate booths serve up steamed pipis, a kangaroo sausage with bread and sauce, Aunty Daphne’s damper and a lemon myrtle ice block.
Whatever format, all the elements are in place to learn more about ingredients that have sustained the people of this land for thousands of years and to “Nganmainga” – eat, drink and be merry.
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