Bush Food Aboriginal Food and Herbal Medicine - Jennifer Isaacs New softcover book

BUSH FOOD

Aboriginal Food and Herbal Medicine

by JENNIFER ISAACS

To see other Bush Food books click here

Large new softcover book, 256 pages, superb full-colour photography.

For perhaps fifty thousand years the Aboriginal people have lived, and lived well, in Australia. They have developed a unique knowledge of native plants and a deep understanding of the value of many animal products.

Bush Food is an exploration these traditional skills and a compendium of the kinds of foods eaten by Aborigines. It indicates how food is caught or gathered, hunted or picked, how it is prepared and cooked, and what nutritional value it has. It considers, too, the use of natural products in traditional Aboriginal herbal medicine.

Illustrated lavishly with specially commissioned photographs, this original and best selling classic will be treasured by all those with a love of the Australian environment and a desire to understand what it can offer to sustain human life.

In pre-colonial eras, Aboriginal people enjoyed a balanced, varied diet of fruits, nuts, roots, vegetables, meat and fish. Jennifer Isaacs uncovers the variety and quality of their culinary experience, acquired over 50,000 years of trial and error. She explains the religious rules governing seasonal harvesting and preparation of food. The herbal medicine section includes traditional remedies for common ailments and the role of healers. Detailed charts explain the use of hundreds of plants. Best seller- never out of print since it was first published in 1987.

Wikipedia has an excellent article on bushfood - click here

The Bush Tucker Field Guide by Les Hiddins is also available - click here

About the author

Jennifer Isaacs is a prominent Australian writer, art consultant and independent curator. A pioneer in moves to gain respect for Aboriginal culture, she is the author of seminal books on Aboriginal art, religion, plant use, food, medicine and oral history. In 2003 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of her work promoting Aboriginal culture and assisting Aboriginal artists. Beginning as a staff member of the Australia Council (the country's peak arts funding body), she travelled extensively through the country from the 1970s onwards, extending her understanding of these remote communities. She has helped develop significant policies in Aboriginal arts, including the principles covering Aboriginal copyright and intellectual property rights.

She has been a keynote speaker at national and international conferences and has tutored in aspects of both indigenous and non-indigenous culture. Jennifer maintains strong links with remote communities and, as well as writing, offers curatorial/ consultancy services and provides occasional special interest visits to Aboriginal art centres. She is committed to an ethical operation which will benefit the indigenous communities and individuals involved.

For more information about Jennifer's work, please visit her website - http://www.jenniferisaacs.com.au/

See other Gardening, Permaculture and Sustainability books click here

Bush Food Aboriginal Food and Herbal Medicine by Jennifer Isaacs