The Oldest Foods on Earth

Why have white Australians so often rejected the delicious and nourishing foods native to our own continent – the wild rices, native fruits, meats, herbs and spices? This is one food revolution that really matters – and it will change how you look at Australia. John Newton argues that if you are what you eat, we need to eat different foods.



Why have white Australians so often rejected the delicious and nourishing foods native to our own continent – the wild rices, native fruits, meats, herbs and spices? This is one food revolution that really matters – and it will change how you look at Australia.

We celebrate cultural and culinary diversity yet shun the foods that grew here before white settlers arrived. We love superfoods from remote exotic locations, yet reject those that grow in our own land. We say we revere sustainable local produce, yet ignore Australian native plants and animals that are better for the land than European ones.

In this, the most important of his many books, John Newton boils down these paradoxes by arguing that if you are what you eat, we need to eat different foods. And, with the help of some amazing recipes from the likes of René Redzepi’s Noma, Peter Gilmore and Kylie Kwong, he shows that the tide is turning, and that there is a revolution happening today in Australian restaurants and beyond.