People are becoming more and more familiar with native foods and confident with how to use them now. So much so, that we are honoured this year to have been invited to be partners with MasterChef Australia for the 2021 season, where they are using a variety of our NATIF (Native Australian Traditional Indigenous Foods) ingredients. It’s wonderful seeing them being used creatively by Australian talented cooks.
I began working with native foods because I wanted to bring them into everyday kitchens - and most importantly into the education system for the next generations of chefs and product developers to value add them into the food chain. My professional training in naturopathy and nutrition is now combined with many years of native foods study, I am now a proud Native Food Nutritionist.
Six years ago, NATIF started educating about native foods at farmers markets and over the past few years, we now educate at private and public events, schools, TAFE colleges, universities and to the food and beverage industry. Some of our most special clients are indigenous businesses, so we get to have great yarns around native foods and sharing of knowledge, which we keep confidential to protect sensitive intellectual property which the traditional owners will eventually share in their own time.
Eating Australian native superfoods will reward you with their health benefits and the deep rich understanding around where they come from, their past, present and future.
Native foods represent a broad range of nutrients, aromas and flavours that can be used across all types of meals from sweet to savoury to beverages. You can use these nutrient dense superfoods as part of a healthy balanced diet and lifestyle to enhance your intake of nutrition (phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and micronutrients) for good health.
NATIF foods are ethically and sustainably sourced native ingredients from Australian native food farmers, Indigenous businesses and wild harvesters all around this land of Oz. We are also wholesalers in the native foods industry and supply bulk native ingredients to food service, retail, food and beverage, start-ups and nutraceutical businesses.
We are what we eat, think, learn, feel, believe, what we do and how we connect - for a healthy mind, body, earth and universe. Encouraging growth, biodiversity, awareness, collaboration, education, usage, supply and demand for native foods into the future.
The foundation of NATIF comes from a deep love of nature, our Australian landscape and a hunger for knowledge about Indigenous foods and culture. NATIF is a holistic business, we are a social enterprise since 2015, giving back and promoting health and health of our environment. NATIF plants trees with Re-Forest Now in the Byron rainforest region, we give to Wildlife Victoria and to Children’s Ground, which is led by First Nations Communities, changing the future for the next generation of Indigenous people.
Images by NATIF except Riberry Cheesecake with NATIF freeze dried Muntries by @veganaugogo