‘Hardly Anything Fit for Man to eat’: Food and Colonialism in Australia

Consuming native Australian wildlife was an accepted colonial practice that often reflected the tensions and contradictions of the colonial enterprise. From the earliest days of Australian settlement, new arrivals found the need to supplement their meagre food supplies with produce from a strange and curious natural larder that challenged cultural assumptions on what was considered fit and appropriate to eat. The trepidation, disgust and delight with which many colonists viewed the consumption of wildlife mirrored the way in which they viewed the natural environment and its inhabitants. From attempts to ‘civilise’ native foods through European cooking methods to their outright rejection, colonial attitudes to native produce echo and elucidate the manner in which settlers engaged with the colonial project as a whole. This article has been peer-reviewed.