Taste Australia Bush Food Shop was established after a chance meeting with Bush Food pioneers, Mike and Gayle Quarmby in 2008 at the Adelaide Showground. The Quarmby's were promoting a range of jams, pickles, spices and sauces they had created in conjunction with renowned Indigenous Chef Mark Olive, marketed under the label "Outback Pride". What began as a self healing project ten years earlier, became a wonderful tribute to how Indigenous and non-Indigenous people can work together for the greater good.
The Outback Pride project provided Indigenous communities with economic benefit, sustained knowledge of the land and its produce. Whilst Mike drew on his horticultural expertise, for Gayle it was a return to her childhood roots. Both have a long, deep seeded respect for Indigenous people and their culture. Gayle's father was passionate about assisting Indigenous communities in achieving self sufficiency and was instrumental in fostering the talent of Albert Namatjira and founding the Hermannsburg watercolour movement. The Quarmbys were heavily invested in the fledgling native food industry travelling thousands of kilometres across the outback to teach remote communities how to garden and harvest the bush foods of their region in order to supply ingredients initially for Outback Pride but in the long term for the food industry nationally and internationally. Unfortunately the label Outback Pride no longer exists but the Quarmby effect has not been lost.
Inspired by the idea, the commitment, the future, their dedication, I saw it as a positive way forward for a much maligned and unfairly marginalised segment of our population, a positive step toward engendering outback pride, so when Gayle said: "all we've got to do now is to get people to eat this stuff", I wanted to help.
I was raised on the edge of Outback South Australia where the saltbush plains meet the mighty Murray River. The population was largely from the Mediterranean along with an equal percentage of Indigenous locals. They say that racism is taught and there is no doubt this was at the core of disagreements within the diverse cultural population. Racial slurs such as wog, dago, coon, gin, abbo were common.
Whilst acceptance of the Italian, Greek and Lebanese communities was slow, recognition and acknowledgement of the traditional owners would take a lot longer and for many the shame of Aboriginal heritage would never be healed in their life times. For instance, my first partner would not learn of his heritage until he was 30 after we learnt that his Grandmother was part of the stolen generation. I wish she had been able to tell us her story which was strikingly similar to author Sally Morgan's account in her book My Place, discovering her family's Indigenous roots hidden from her during her childhood.
Taste Australia Bush Food Shop was created to promote the native food industry, to collaborate with all interested parties no matter their heritage, to engender pride in what it is to be an Australian and to enable everybody to have easy ready access to dried native ingredients. We are the lucky country. We all belong to this place equally, regardless of race or heritage. The essence of Harmony Week is working together for the greater good - not just working with people of a particular ethnicity. You don't have to dig very deep to learn that everyone, indigenous and non indigenous, involved in the bush food industry bring a range of cultural experience and expertise to the table. It is around the table that friendships flourish.
Unfortunately the misinformed make accusations associated with cultural appropriation, the exploitation of Indigenous knowledge and land, and unethical business practices where the non-Indigenous are benefiting from Indigenous culture, knowledge, or resources without permission, respect, or fair compensation. That is not how Taste Australia Bush Food Shop operates. The accusation in itself is racist.
Our business is founded on mutual respect - we expect our associates to be respectful, reliable, responsive, supply quality product and to be honest and genuine. In return we will do our best to promote bush food ingredients to our diverse customer base.
The past 18 years has been about educating ourselves and the consumers in the hope that incorporating native ingredients into our daily diet is not seen as gourmet but our birthright, a crucial part of an, "inherent duty to care" for Country and culture.
This small online business is now ready to be taken to the next level. It consists of a collection of informative websites which all feed into the shop. Backed by an online (cloud) accounting system means that its financial records, transactions, and reporting through internet-based software providing 24/7, real-time access to financial data from any device, enhancing efficiency, accuracy, and collaboration.
But until there is a buyer who will carry on the legacy, we will continue to operate at our usual high level with quality product at fair prices and our usual speedy processing and despatch of orders daily.