Some of us E-Teamers were lucky enough to travel to Alice Springs in the middle of the Never Never. While there whether PCS or TDY we automatically became members of the JDSRF club. Our family resided there during the halcyon days from 1978 through 1982. While there we learned to taste and enjoy many different foods.
Those days all came back to mind when I was cleaning out a cupboard and stumbled across the JDSRF Woman’s Club Cookbook circa 1981. It contains recipes for many of the unique Asssie dishes. Now I must mention Australia is not known for its World Class cuisine and with good reason.
However, while perusing through the book I came across a wholly Central Australian delicacy – The Witchety Grub. The recipe is simple:
- Find some Whitchey Grubs by digging around promising tree roots in the Outback
- Build a small fire
- Get some good hot coals going
- Toss the Whitchety Grubs in the coals for a minute or two
- Pull them out of the coals and pop them in your mouth
Now I never got the chance to actually have a witchery grub but I did have a steak covered in witchety grub sauce at The Overlander Steakhouse which sadly is no more.
The rationale for eating the grub is simple enough. The Aborigines, because of the sparse arid climate, were always hard pressed for protein in their diet. Millennia ago they discovered witchery grubs were an excellent source of protein. To locate them the Aborigines would dig around the roots of likely tree, pick up the witchery grub, and pop it in their mouth. As you can ascertain from the recipe we civilized people roasted them for a minute or two before consuming them. The even more civilized would pop the grub’s head off and then suck the grub dry.
Australia is not known for its cuisine. However, we enjoyed several other delicacies while there:
- Pie floater – a meat pie floating in a bowl of pea soup. The type of meat is never advertised but depending on the day of the week it could be beef, kangaroo, camel, or perhaps horse
- Burger with the lot – besides the normal toppings we are used to the lot includes fried egg, beet root, and pineapple.
- Vegemite – An acquired taste for sure – salty and savory. Our family spread it on toast for breakfast (at least some of us did). For years after we returned to stateside I brought back Vegemite from my Australian trips for our youngest daughter. She finally weaned off the sticky stuff in college probably because of peer pressure.
- Pavlova – My favorite desert still. Wish I could find it here in the States.
That’s all for now — This is the way!!
Garland ESY/Raytheon Retirees 