Chapter 28
Taxonomic Inventory (see
Regional Inventory, Chapter 27)
There
are many references to edible "grubs" in the Australian
literature. Most of these undoubtedly
refer to coleopterous larvae of the families Buprestidae or Cerambycidae or
lepidopterous larvae of the family Cossidae.
In cases where the family identity of the insect is not clear, the paper
is cited here in the Introduction.
Barrallier (1802: 755-757, 813; vide Flood 1980: 296) reported
that grubs and ants' eggs were eaten along the
These grubs are mainly woodborers in
acacia.
Meredith (1844:
94) reported that large grubs, "which are reckoned great luxuries,"
are eaten at
Davies (1846,
p. 414; vide Bodenheimer 1951, pp. 134-135) reported that the natives of
Brough
Smyth
(1878, I, pp. 206-207, 211-212) discusses several kinds of insects used
as food in
Dawson (1881,
pp. 20-21) mentions, in western Victoria, large numbers of pupae (from large
green processional caterpillars) which are dug from the ground during the
winter at the foot of gum trees and baked in hot ashes. Grubs cut from trees and dead timber, and
"about the size of the little finger," are eaten alive "with as
much pleasure as a white man eats a living oyster." When roasted on embers, "they are
delicate and nutty in flavour." Grubs
from the trunks of the common wattle tree (Acacia) are considered the
finest and sweetest. With the aid of an
axe and a small hooked wand, which is carried by every hunter, the grubs are
pulled from their holes in the wood.
Dawson states that when the women and children hear the sound of
chopping, "they hasten to partake of the food, which they enjoy above all
others." See also under Psyllidae.
Lumholtz (1889)
mentions several kinds of insects used as food by the aborigines in
Queensland. See below under
Cerambycidae, Apidae and Acrididae.
In
New South Wales "grubs" of all kinds are eaten as are ants and ant
larvae (Fraser 1892, pp. 52-53). Calvert
(1894 [or 1898?], pp. 17-29; vide Bodenheimer 1951, pp. 74-75) discusses
the lifestyle of the aborigines of Western Australia, noting that whereas
intelligent well-armed white people will die of hunger in the desert, the
native will find a sufficiency of food.
Four kinds of grubs and two kinds of manna are part of their fare. Grubs which are "extremely
palatable" are procured from the grass tree and also from the wattle
tree. They are eaten raw or roasted but
apparently are improved by cooking.
Calvert did not try them, but was told they have a nut-like flavor.
Stirling (1896;
vide Bodenheimer 1951, pp. 72-74) cites several earlier reports on insect foods
of Central Australia and adds additional information. He states:
"There are few living animals that come amiss to the Central
Australian aborigines. To mention the
names of all that are eaten would be largely to recapitulate the zoology of the
district." Lerp manna is mentioned
as being noted at various localities, particularly in the bed of the Todd River
near Alice Springs and at the junction of the Hugh and Finke rivers. The leaves of Eucalyptus rostrata and E.
microtheca bore the small white conical coverings of psyllid larvae. Witchetty grubs and other smaller larvae from
the roots of acacias are eaten. The
honeypots of the sugar ants are a favourite article of food when obtainable,
and there appears to be a special ceremony to promote the supply. Melophorus inflatus (the common yarumpa)
and M. cowleyi (the ittutunie) were eaten as was M. midas
probably.
Roth (1897,
p. 93) reported as follows on the insect foods of the Pitta-Pitta aborigines:
Certain species of ants--a green
variety among the Mitakoodi--are eaten raw:
the individual stands or stamps upon an ant-bed from which these
creatures will run up his legs and thighs, and get scraped or swept off as fast
as they come up. Smaller kinds of grubs
and caterpillars, especially those found on the grass (ka-pa-ra, both of
the Boulia and Cloncurry Districts) may be eaten raw and whole: the larger varieties, found in trees, (ka-lo-rung-or-o
of the Boulia) are usually roasted, the heads not being eaten, or may be dried
in the sun, and put away for future occasion.
[Sects. 53 and 84 (Fig. 84) of this work should be seen]
There
is a honey ant or yarumpa totem, yarumpa being the Arunta name
for the honey ant, Camponotus inflatus Lubbock. Spencer and Gillen (1899,
pp. 186-189) described the intichiuma or sacred ceremony of the yarumpa
totem and the religious significance of the intichiuma and totems in
general (pp. 167-170, 202-211). They
relate the tale of the "Wanderings of the Honey-Ant People" (pp.
438-439), and describe the intichiuma of the udnirringita or
witcheti (mispelled witchetty) grub totem (pp. 170-179).
Basedow (1904,
pp. 16-17) states that:
When the season is favorable, grubs
(`ilguare' and `iljaleti') and caterpillars (`udnamarre') are extensively
collected and devoured. The `ilguare'
lives on the roots of species of Acacia and Cassia, and it is
interesting to watch a native hunting for these. A long rod with a chisel edge at one end, and
often referred to as yamstick (`wanna') is forced into the ground at the side
of the main stem of the bush and leverage applied. If the root has been attacked by grubs it
will readily give way to the strain, and the native consequently sets to work
with his "wanna" and hands to unearth the grub. Less difficulty is experienced in finding the
`iljaleti' (larvae of Cossus sp.) which lives in the trunks of
eucalypts.
Basedow mentions that at the time of
their arrival in the ranges, the ground was covered with large green
caterpillars that were collected by the natives in large wooden vessels called
"mika" carried upon the heads of the women. Grubs and caterpillars are thrown upon hot
ashes to roast, but the latter are allowed to remain there for only a very
short time, being eaten almost raw.
Parker (1905,
pp. 110, 114; vide Bodenheimer, pp. 126, 130-131), in his report on the
Enahleyi tribe of northwestern N.S. Wales, states that ant larvae and frogs are
considered excellent food. Honey
collected from stingless bees is eaten mixed with wax and dead bees. Parker relates an Enahleyi legend that a
manna-rich year precedes severe drowth, a tradition that, according to
Bodenheimer, is widespread in Australian literature.
Thomas (1906,
pp. 110-112) states that insects are important articles of food in many parts
of Australia. Agrotis spina is
important in New South Wales where the adult moths are collected by lighting
fires under the huge rocks on which they collect. When the moths fall they are collected in
bushel-baskets; a fire is built to heat the ground and then the ashes are
pushed aside and the moths are winnowed on the hot ground. This removes the wings and
"down." They are then eaten or
pounded, or if to be kept longer than a week, they are smoked. They resemble a sweet nut in taste, but have
a bad effect for the first few days on those who eat them. Despite that, according to Thomas, both the
natives and their dogs grow fat on them.
Beetles, wasp larvae, March flies and caterpillars are all eaten on
occasion. Many kinds of beetle grubs are
eaten, and, as described earlier by Dawson (1881), a special instrument is
carried for pulling them out of the trees.
Ant pupae and larvae are also a favourite food. In Queensland ants and pupae are eaten
together, mixed with salt water. Honey
is much sought after and Thomas also mentions the sweet secretion of Psylla
which is sometimes eaten, sometimes infused in water and fermented as a drink.
Campbell
(1926, pp. 407-410; vide Bodenheimer, pp. 75, 103, 114) commented (p.
410):
Among the Australian aborigines the
variety of foodstuffs is considerable, not only from choice, but also owing to
the difficulty of obtaining a permanent and regular supply of any one article
of diet....In fact almost anything capable of being chewed is regarded as
food. During drought and the absence of
large game, the maintenance of an adequate food supply is one of the greatest
problems for these mere food-gatherers.
Thus it is not surprising that larger-bodied or abundant insects are
eagerly collected. Most insects appear
in a district for a comparatively short time each season, and the appearance of
species needed for food was treated by the natives as a matter of great
importance.
Other
insects mentioned by Campbell (Bodenheimer, pp. 75-76) include the migrating Bugong-moth
(Euxoa infusa) which was of great significance for some tribes in New
South Wales, while the larva causes damage to crops in some years. The 'sugar bags' of Trigona-bees, like
the green tree-ant (O. smaragdina), are largely restricted to the
tropical and subtropical areas of the North.
The honeypot ants, Melophorus, Camponotus spp. and others,
are eagerly sought for in Central and Northern Australia, while in Central and
Southern Australia, the caterpillars of large hepialid and cossid moths,
including the witchetty grubs are of great importance. Everywhere, the larvae of beetles such as the
longicorn, Eurynassa australis, are collected from living or decaying
trees, mainly Eucalyptus or Acacia. In addition to these, many other butterflies,
grasshoppers, termites, cockroaches, cicadas, lerp-insects, and numerous others
have been used as food by the Australian natives. See also under Formicidae.
Cleland (1940,
p. 14) notes that while civilized man has made remarkable and, in some cases,
lamentable, changes in his environment, there has been no serious depletion of
any plant or animal species because of its use as food by the natives. "They did, however, exercise some
control by extracting the large white witchetty or bardi grubs of certain
beetles and moths found in the stems and roots of a number of native trees and
shrubs." These destructive wood-infestng grubs were eaten by the natives.
Johnston (1943)
summarized aboriginal names and use of the fauna, including insects (pp.
301-307), in the Eyrean region. Many coleopterous larvae, especially
cerambycids and buprestids are eaten, but Johnston notes (p. 303), as noted at
the beginning of this chapter, that earlier references to larvae usually do not
distinguish between Coleoptera and Lepidoptera. He discusses both, therefore,
in a section titled Insect Larvae. Distinctions between grubs in the native
languages usually refer to the host tree or shrub and habitat within the host.
Concerning ants, Johnston cites Mrs. Duncan-Kemp (1933) that natives mixed ant
honey with diluted nectar from bauhinias and allowed the mixture to ferment
8-10 days to produce a semi-toxicant.
Also cited is an early (1846) report by Schürmann:
. . . large white grubs found sparingly in ant
hills about September along with the very numerous small red insects were eaten
by the Pangkala after having been sorted out by placing the mass (containing
earth and insects) on a large piece of bark (yuta) about 4 feet long and 8 to
10 inches wide. The material was thrown up repeatedly and caught in the yuta,
which was held in such a way that the heaviest portion became sorted out
towards one end, the lightest towards the other, and the grubs in the middle
part. These living grubs were then wrapped in a clean dry grass and chewed and
sucked until all nutriment was abstracted.
Duncan-Kemp is also cited by Johnston
regarding mantis being roasted on hot stones and eaten.
Finlayson (1943)
mentions (p. 30) that the roots of the broadleafed mulga or witchetty bush,
"harbour a grub beloved by the blacks," and that honey ants (pp.
85-86) are "relished exceedingly."
Frequently, a half a day's heavy digging will be done, following the
galleries to a depth of four feet in order to obtain 50-100 ants. The sweetness of the thin ant syrup,
according to Finlayson, "is relieved by a slight acidity and a flavour of
malt." Finlayson was very much
impressed by the generosity of the native people (pp. 91-93):
Correlated perhaps with their lack
of a property sense, but none the less admirable for that, is the blacks'
generosity and impartiality in matters of food distribution. All food obtained becomes the common property
of the group, and is brought in and distributed by the older men to all who
require it, regardless of any special claims which might be put forward (but
never are) by the man who obtained it.
Time and time again this generosity has been extended to white men in
extremis. In the matter of water,
the blacks' attitude has been almost quixotically generous, and in a country
where water is a vital thing, he has shared freely with the invader and his
ravenous stock...
McKeown (1944a,
p. 38; vide Bodenheimer 1951, p. 106) describes, similarly to previous
observers, the procedure used by native women in digging out the yarumpa
honey ants from great depths, sometimes six feet or more. McKeown (pp. 68, 69 [this may be McKeown
1944b rather than 1944a]; vide Bodenheimer, p. 99) mentions that great hordes
of the Bugong moths at times migrate to the coastal regions,
occasionally invading eastern urban areas.
McKeown (p. 177; vide Bodenheimer, p. 133) mentions termites as occasional
food. McKeown (1944b, pp.
182 and following; vide Bodenheimer, p. 103) discusses honey ants and notes
that Leptomyrmex varians Em. of Queensland stores its honey in a similar
manner. McKeown provides a drawing of Melophorus
inflatus (p. 183). McKeown (p. 106;
vide Bodenheimer, pp. 128-129) discusses lerp-sugar, the common sugar-lerp
insect being Spondyliaspis eucalypti Dob. (Psyllidae), which is
widespread in Australia. The sweet
"manna" is much prized by the natives who sometimes also concocted a
sweet drink by steeping them in water.
Mountford (1946)
recorded observations made along the Mann Range, the country of the
Pitjendadjara, in central Australia. He
states (p. 100):
The menu of my companions was
certainly varied; in fact, they ate everything that was edible--grubs, lizards,
ants, kangaroos, emus, grasses, and seeds of many kinds. I have eaten many of these foods with relish.
The large white wood grubs, although
loathsome in appearance, are particularly palatable, although I must admit it
took a lot of determination to eat the first one. They are, indeed, surprisingly similar to
roast pork. Lizard tastes like chicken,
and kangaroo like delicately flavored beef.
Honey ants are as sweet as any honey.
Mountford
confesses that he did not try all of the foods, dingo (native dog) and cat, for
example. Mountford provides a photograph
(p. 98) of a native baby, "fat and saucy," who "thrives on a
diet of mother's milk, white grubs, and honey ants." The author drives home the point that the child's
home is in the Mann Range "where previous travelers' reports indicated
that the country was too bad to support even aborigines."
Sweeney (1947)
reported on the foods of the Wailbri tribe, which formerly occupied the
extensive desert area lying to the northwest of Alice Springs in central
Australia. More than 80 percent of their
area is desert comprising spinifex and sandhill country with sparse and poor
desert timbers. Mulga, an acacia tree
edible for stock, growing in the low rainfall areas, belongs to the grass
country and does not grow to any extent in the spinifex. The mulga and grass country, which includes
the hill and creek areas and is the region of higher and more dependable
rainfall, represents about 10 percent of the Wailbri tribal territory. At the time of Sweeney's study, the remnant
of the Wailbri numbered about 600 natives, about half of whom had emigrated
north seeking easier food supplies. As
to tribal vitality, Sweeney notes that about 30 percent of the people are
children, including many healthy infants in arms.
As
to foods, honey from the native stingless bees is collected during the winter
months. The nests are built in the
hollows of trees, and the areas favored are those where eucalyptus grows, a
type of terrain to which the Wailbri have only limited access. Honey ants, called "Yurambi" by the
Wailbri, are found in mulga grass country and they feed mainly in the mulga
trees. The repletes are dug out of the
ground by the women. Because of their
restricted distribution, to gum creeks and flats and the mulga areas, honey
from both bees and ants is found only in small quantities. A number of trees produce growths around gall
insects, which are used as food, the most useful in Wailbri country being the
"bloodwood Apple" which grows to three inches in diameter. The gall insect itself is eaten, as is the
kernal or inside layers of growth around the insect. After the insect completes its life cycle and
leaves, the "apple" loses its food value.
Sweeney
describes an edible fly as follows:
In-djila-barinba is the
Wailbri term for a fly, whose body is about ½ inch long; when the wings are
closed the length is 3/4 inch. They
frequent the desert bloodwood trees, and make a singing noise with their wings. When they die they fall to the ground and
into the spinifex, and are collected by the natives and eaten without any
preparation or cooking. The flies are
also eaten by the desert goanas. The flies make a sweet substance which is
attached to the bloodwoods and which is also used as food.
Of
edible grubs, Sweeney says:
There are a number of grubs used as
food by the desert native. Edible grubs
are found in the eucalyptus genus of trees, but the most common is the
witchetty grub found in the roots of the witchetty bush (an acacia); they grow
up to 4 inches long and are eaten raw or cooked. The witchetty is a common bush growing in the
mulga and grass country; it also grows in the spinifex country edging the
mulga. Edible grubs are a common food
among the desert natives.
Bodenheimer (1951),
in addition to his review of previous literature on the use of insects in
Australia, devotes a section to insect totems, their intichiuma
ceremonies and legends. Quite a number
of totem animals are insects and the interested reader should consult
Bodenheimer (pp. 76-82). Bodenheimer
also devotes a section to the "honey-bags" or honeybees of Australia,
all of the native species belonging to the stingless genus Trigona
(Meliponidae) (pp. 115-128).
Bourne (1953,
pp. 62-63) mentions several insects used as food but provides little
information that has not been encountered in the previous literature. Insects mentioned include ant pupae as a
staple food, and white ants [termites] mixed with ground seeds and baked. Some types of moths are very popular and when
roasted taste like unpeeled almonds; natives in some parts of the country
periodically feast on moths that are attracted to the fires at night and are
thrown into the ashes before being consumed.
Many caterpillars are popular, particularly the green ones; they are
flung into the hot ashes until the body straightens and the hairs are singed
away. Most popular among the many forms
of larvae eaten are those of the big Cossus moth known as the Witchedy
grub. There are two species, one developing
in the roots of acacia, the other in the butt of eucalyptus trees. The flavor is said to resemble slightly
sweetened scrambled eggs. The honey of
wild bees is eaten with relish. Other
insects discussed include the honey ant, Melophorus inflatus, and lerp
manna found on leaves of the red gum (Eucalyptus rostrata) and secreted
by Psylla larvae. Bourne (p. 65)
mentions several food taboos; one is that expectant mothers in some tribes are
not allowed to eat grubs, among other things.
Bourne
(p. 59) provides a valuable discussion on the effect that the coming of the
white man has had on the nutrition (adverse) of the aborigines.
Bluett (1954: 5, 27-28; vide Flood 1980: 296-297) mentions, from indirect observation,
the use of witchetty grubs and Bogong moths in the Canberra district.
Reim (1962)
published an extensive paper on the use of insects as food in Australia [this
long paper in German is on hand, but not yet translated]. Much of the information is apparently gleaned
from the literature. Species mentioned
include: Coleoptera: Agrianome spinicollis (Cerambycidae), Appectrogastra
flavipilis, Bardistus cibarius Newman, Eurynassa odewahni
Pascoe, Mnemopulis edulis (Cerambycidae), Xyleutes boisduvali
Herrich-Schaeffer, X. eucalypti Scott, X. sp., Passalus
(?), Gyrinidae (?); Homoptera: Cicadina,
Psyllina, Spondyliaspis eucalypti Dobson; Hymenoptera: Camponotus spp., Formica consobrina,
Melophorus, Myrmecia pyriformis, M. sanguinea, Oecophylla
virescens Fabr., Trigona honey; Isoptera: termites; Lepidoptera: Abantiades marcidus, Coenotes
eremophilae (Sphingidae), Endoxyla eucalypti, E. sp., Trictena
argentata Herrich-Schaeffer, Zeuzera citurata.
Meggett (1962)
describes the physical environment occupied by the Walbiri in the
central-western part of the Northern Territory, and mentions (p. 4) that,
"In good seasons, when food is plentiful, the smaller and less palatable
creatures may be ignored; but in times of scarcity even the humblest insects
are eaten." Insects eaten include
(pp. 14-15): witchetty-grub, (Walbiri
name, mijamija) (Cerambycidae larvae?), prized food; witchetty-grub (nalgari)
(Cossidae larvae?), prized food; white ant (jarinju) (Eutermes sp.?),
occasionally eaten; flying ant (bandjidi) (Eutermes sp.?), occasionally
eaten; honey ant (jirambi) (Melophorus inflatus?), prized food; honey
ant (jagula) (Melophorus sp.?), prized food; manna (jiljalbu) (psyllid
lerp), frequently eaten; wild bee (munagi) (Trigona sp.), honey prized
food and wax used for adhesive; grasshoppers (djindilga), occasionally eaten;
caterpillars and grubs (ladjul), some eaten; cicadas and crickets (lirinba),
occasionally eaten; and weevils (lodu), occasionally eaten. Meggett additionally lists 13 types of
insects that are not eaten, including among others, Camponotus and Myremcia ants, Gryllotalpa (mole
crickets), March flies, mantids, hornets (known as murururururu), and
phasmids. Totems include insects (p.
59), and Meggett notes (p. 64) that a honey ant dreaming-site is located within
15-20 miles of the Yuendumu settlement.
In
an excellent summary of first-hand experiences, Tindale (1966)
emphasized the importance of insect foods in the life of the Australian
aborigines:
The earliest pursuit of children,
under the guidance of their mothers, is a hunt for various kinds of insect
larvae, witchety grubs, and beetles. It is probable that the healthy growth of
children in large measure is related to this source of food. Early nourishment
of babies prior to weaning is assisted and the children are kept quiet by the
cossid and hepialid grubs constantly dangling from their mouths. In our society
a dummy [pacifier] replaces this early natural food for children.
Tindale
notes that in drought years, a reduced supply of grubs, lerp scales, honey
ants, etc., along with the disappearance of greens may cause outbreaks of
scurvy, playing havoc with the health of adults as well as children. A serious
outbreak among the Kukatja (Loritja) people in 1930 was relieved dramatically
when the University of Adelaide Anthropological Expedition provided orange
juice for the crippled children and their parents, but Tindale notes: "On
that occasion Kukatja women complained bitterly of the disappearance of the
grubs from the roots of the Acacia kempeana shrubs because of the
drought, and of the impossibility of digging for the Honey Ant, which had taken
their diminished stores of honey far below the ground."
Even
the hunters remain alert for insect foods. Tindale writes:
I have seen a man, who supposedly
was engrossed in the stalking of a kangaroo, glance aside at a likely gum tree
and turn away from the hunt to test a hole with his spear-point. This led him
to make a hooked stick with which he pulled out a grub [Xyleutes]. He
ate it, and only then did his attention return to the more serious business of
the hunt.
Hiatt (1967-68)
listed a caterpillar, grubs and ant eggs (pupae?) (pp. 112, 119) among food
resources used by Tasmanian Aborigines.
Cleland (1966: 114) makes the following observation:
The rapidity with which, under conditions
of an ample food supply, the aborigines seemed to 'fill out' after a period of
stringency -- a phenomenon noticed on several of the expeditions from the
University of Adelaide -- would, if a fact, suggest that the Australian native
can perhaps assimilate and store up food, when the opportunities offer, more
quickly than white persons. This may
have an important bearing and enable aborigines in the interior to survive when
they might otherwise perish.
Cleland
inventories the wild food resources of the "Fertile Coastal Regions and
Murray System" versus the "Dry Interior." Insects eaten in the former region included
(p. 132): "bardie or witchetty
grubs such as Trictena argentata (Herrich-Schaetter) [sic] and Abantiades
marcidus Tindale, from the roots of gum trees and from other sources. Termites may have been eaten."
Insects
eaten in the Dry Interior include (pp. 143-144):
Witchetty grubs obtained from the
roots of the witchetty-bush, Acacia kempeana F.v.M. (larvae of buprestid
beetles); of the Native Poplar Codonocarpus cotinifolius (Desf.) F.v.M.
(larvae of a cossid moth); of the Roly-Poley Salso kali L. (larvae of a
large cossid moth), and of the Red Gum Eucalyptus, E. camaldulensis
Dehnh. and others (larvae of the Hepealid [sic] moth Trictena argenata
(Herrich-Schaeffer). Mulga apples
(galls) on Acacia brachystachya Benth. caused by probably Trachilogastir
sp. (Hymenoptera-Perilampidae). Edible
wax scale Austrotachardia acaciae (Frogg.) on Sandhill Mulga,
Ooldea. Bloodwoods Eucalyptus dichromophloia
F.v.M. and allies, in Central Australia have a large Brachyselid gall the size
of a small apple; its smooth-lined cavity contains a large female coccid,
probably Apiomorpha pomiformis Froggalt [sic], which is eaten raw. Termites in the flying stage. Specialized members of the Honey Ant Melophorus
inflatus Lubb. have honey stored in the crop to such an extent that the
hinder portion of the insect becomes enormously distended; by deep digging with
yam sticks the women unearth these much-relished sweets from the nests of the
ants in mulga thickets.
These mulga honeypot ants are quite
numerous in suitable country such as near Haast's Bluff, but the source from
which the honey is obtained is not at first sight readily detected. On some of the trees, the scale of the Lerp Austrotachardia
acaciae (Frogg.) Maskell, may furnish an obvious source for some of the
mulga sugar but these infestations are not sufficient. The principal supply seems to come from an
exudate from the gland at the base of each phyllode of the Mulga. Under certain conditions, in the early
morning, glistening beads of honey dew can be seen at this situation.
The native stingless bees of the
genus Trigona furnish a welcome source of slightly acid honey. When a bee's nest is suspected in a hollow
tree, a stick is poked down the hole until the comb, if present, is reached,
when some adheres to the stick. Comb,
honey, bees and larvae are all consumed together. In searching for a bee's nest at Macdonald
Downs in Central Australia, the natives, instead of looking up the trees for
issuing bees, went down on their knees in a likely locality and searched for
small dark particles carried away from their nests by the bees and
dropped. These having been found, it
meant that somewhere close at hand, there was a nest. Likely trees were tapped and any hollow ones
climbed and the stick poked down until the one containing the honey was found.
The
Ngatatjara distinguish between mirka (vegetable and non-fleshy foods)
and kuka (meat and fleshy foods), and kuka is always preferred
over mirka (Gould 1969: 260).
Insects are included under mirka and are important at times,
"particularly honey ants, white ants, and at least two varieties of grub
(neither of which was plentiful during 1966-1967, but which we were told had
been abundant in other seasons, perhaps even to the extent of constituting a
staple food).
Waterhouse (1971,
p. 146) states:
In the relatively harsh Australian
environment where woody fruits prevail, the nomadic hunting habits of the
aborigines and the fact that they had no thought or means of storing food
exposed them to irregular and sometimes prolonged periods of food
shortage. Possibly because insects were
at times almost the only available foodstuffs, but partly because some were
regarded as special delicacies, the use of insects as food was widespread if
not universal....A number are represented on totems, and sacred Increase
Ceremonies were performed to promote their abundance. Among the most prized were several species of
honeypot ants, the honey stores and brood combs of stingless bees, a number of
species of witchety grub, the bogong moth, the bardee (longicorn beetle larvae)
and the sweet manna of various lerp insects.
Even the green tree ant...was eaten or used to make a refreshing drink.
Waterhouse
relates that the large larvae (up to 8 or more cm in length) and pupae of the
witjuti or witchety are eaten raw or roasted, the flavor of the roasted grubs
reportedly being delicate and nutty, similar to scrambled eggs, roast pork, or
bone marrow. He notes, regarding the
aborigines and the bogong moth, Agrotis infusa (Boisduval) that,
"It is a tribute to their perseverance in the pursuit of food that it took
them several days of practice each year before they could hold down such a
fat-rich meal." The honeypots are
specialized workers of several species of Melophorus. These ants are steadily fed honey by
food-gathering workers; the honey is stored in the crop, the abdomen eventually
becoming distended to the size of a marble.
Strehlow (1971)
mentions, among the totemic songs and ceremonies of the Aranda, a termite totem
(p. 217), the Trjimeta Song of Lukara (witchetty grub) (pp. 282, 295-296), and
the Northern Aranda Honey-Ant Song of Ljaba (pp. 685-690), the latter 30 verses
in length.
Tindale (1972:
233, 238, 245, 248-249, 251-253) discusses insects as part of the food of the
Pitjandjara, a simple hunting and food-gathering people who live in the
northwestern corner of the state of South Australia. Their territory extends also westward barely
into West Australia and northward into the Northern Territory. Wattle tree roots yield mako ilkoara,
larvae of a species of Xyleutes moth (p. 233). Another gathered food is the anumara
hawk moth caterpillars which feed on Boerhavia
vines (p. 249). After the first
rains cause rapid growth of these (and other) plants, they are soon covered
with the small black anumara larvae (p. 238): "These grow in about a month to be
two-inch long caterpillars. Hundreds of
these are gathered into wooden dishes, covered with bark or confined until they
have passed all of the Boerhavia leafy matter through their bodies and
ejected it as frass. The women then
separate the larvae from their dung by rocking them in their wooden dishes and
cook the grubs by shaking them along with hot ashes, and so good food is
available once more." Collecting
small animals and insects is womens' work (pp. 245, 248).
Tindale
states (p. 251):
The plants of the family
Zygophyllaceae, besides their uses as coverings in the steaming of greens,
provide two genera, Nitraria and Zygophyllum, which have Cossid
moth larvae boring in their stems. These
grubs provide important foods. Thus,
Zygophyllum aurantiacum, sometimes called native hop, is known to the
Pitjandjara as pijarpiti. It is a
low shrub with slender, rigid stems and yellow flowers with four petals...The
grubs boring in the stems are called mako biarpiti at Ooldea and are the
larvae of a yellow and black spotted moth (Xyleutes biarpiti), the
female of which has only partly developed wings and so cannot fly. The larvae are abundant where they occur and
children spend many happy hours hunting for them...
Tindale
continues (p. 252):
Nitraria schoberi, the niter
bush, which lives on saline soils, also provides Xyleutes larvae, which
bore in the stems and are an important source of food. The shrubs occur near some of the larger dry
lake beds which margin the southern border of Pitjandjara territory. On certain nights in summer thousands of the
moths, white-winged with black spots, fly into fires, but as they generally
come at a time when better food is available, they are not always eaten. On the other hand, the grubs and pupae boring
in the base of the stem of the shrub earlier in the season are eagerly sought-after
items of food.
Tindale
states (p. 252):
Lerp scales occur on several species
of Acacia and Eucalyptus and provide a source of sugar as food
upon which all may need to feed. The wama
wanari, or lac scale of the mulga (Acacia aneura), is found
infesting large areas of mulga and then may be absent over equally wide
areas. Western Pitjandjara may live for
days on this substance, breaking off the twigs covered with scale and drawing
them through the lips sore and bleeding from the rough sticks drawn across
them. The lerp scale of the ngarukalja
(Hakea francisiana) yields a similar wama, which is of sufficient
importance that it is the subject of an increase ceremony (inma tjukur).
Tindale mentions the purara, or
honey ant (Melophorus inflatus) as an example of an insect clan totem.
According
to Tindale (pp. 252-253):
The term wamapiti is often
used as a term for any form of lerp sugar as well as honey. Honey ants occur only in mulga scrub. After big rains they harvest the flow of
honey from flowers and the sweet sap from glands on the growing tips of mulga
twigs. It is stored well below ground
level in the inflated abdomens of certain worker ants. These living stores of honey, each the size
of a pea, tide the ants over lean years during which lack of rain prevents the
flowering of the mulga. Thus honey ants are one of the buffer food supplies for
natives in dry years. Usually women dig
for honey ants using a digging stick and wooden scoop. Sometimes when other food is in short supply
men join in the search. Holes as deep as
3 or 4 feet may develop, often several yards in diameter, as they search for
storage holes and their living sacs of sweetness.
Finally,
Tindale notes (p. 253):
When all else fails the hairy
colonial larvae of the bag shelter moth (Panacela), which occur in
frass-filled silken webs on Eucalyptus, are gathered and eaten. Their irritating hairs are singed off by
heating them with hot ashes. The hairs
of the caterpillars cause intense irritation to the lips and throat and also
cause a skin rash. The Pitjandjara
concept of abject misery is to be under the necessity of eating such larvae.
Roheim (1974)
discusses myths, songs and totems involving honey ants (pp. 48, 133-137) and
witchetty grubs (pp. 132-133) and says of the latter (pp. 47-48):
One small representative of the
animal world belonged to the sphere of activity of women and children. This was the witchetty grub, the larva of the
big Cossus moth. It was regarded as a
great delicacy by the natives and eaten by most Europeans who had lived in the
bush for some time. The taste resembles
that of scrambled eggs, but is considerably richer. Children often spend the better part of the day
digging for these grubs. When Mrs.
Roheim offered little Aldinga some strawberry jam, he exclaimed, `Maku'
(witchetty), partly because the shape of the preserved strawberry reminded him
of the grub, but mainly because of his delight.
Roheim
continues:
The children ate the grubs raw, or
slightly roasted. Tjintjewara described
the manner of obtaining and preparing maku. When the children saw a particular kind of
bush, they examined its base to see if there were any of the shells which the
moth discards when it leaves the chrysalis.
If these shells were present, the children knew there were grubs in the
bush. They dug into the ground until
they found the root of the bush, where they saw the excrements of the maku. They then broke the thick root with their yam
sticks and inside it found the much coveted delicacy.
Relative
to the nomenclature of indigenous peoples, Meyer-Rochow (1975a)
suggests that "a species is likely to get an individual name to contrast
it with the more general term or to distinguish it from the term of a related
'type-specimen', if it is harmful, edible, or in any other way
outstanding." The author records
terms used for various terrestrial arthropods by three ethnic groups in Papua
New Guinea and by the Pintupi and Walbiri tribes of central Australia. Terms used by the Walbiri for edible species
are as follows: Coleoptera: Euryscaphus sp. (scarab beetle) (ni(e)di);
larval Cerambycidae (mijamija); larval Cuculionidae (lodu),
occasionally eaten; Homoptera: cicadas (lirinba),
occasionally eaten; scale insect (Coccoidea)(manda), some forms eaten;
manna (psyllid lerp)(jiljalbu); plant galls of a variety of families (pilburi),
some occasionally eaten; Hymenoptera: Camponotus
inflatus (honeypot ant)(ing(u)rani); Melophorus spp. (honey
ants)(jirambi, jagula); Trigona sp. (native honey bee)(djolala);
Lepidoptera: caterpillars (waiburi,
wai(o)upi, ladjul), some eaten; witchetty grub (larval Cossidae)(ngalgari);
Orthoptera: grasshoppers and locusts
(Acridoidea)(tindilga, djindilga), occasionally eaten; Teleogryllus
commodus (cricket)(djabalari), rarely eaten. Some of the above Walbiri terms were reported
by Meggitt (1962).
Pintupi
terms for edible insects are given by Meyer-Rochow as follows: Coleoptera:
nidi nidi or nirrinirri, general term for beetles, some
adults and grubs of which are eaten; Hemiptera:
leaf bugs of various families (patana), some of which are eaten;
Homoptera: leaf hopper (Cicadelloidea)(jugri
jugri), some eaten; Hymenoptera: Camponotus
inflatus (honeypot ant)(ngari); Isoptera: termites (longurlma,
lungkunpa); Orthoptera; grasshoppers and locusts (djindilga, tjintilyka),
occasionally eaten. Some of the above
Pintupi terms were reported by Hansen (1974).
Meyer-Rochow (1975b)
proposes that edible insects can help ease the food shortage in certain
underdeveloped countries. He suggests
that many of the proposed strategies for increasing food production are
impractical for developing countries:
Severe problems are attached to
strategies such as using more efficient insecticides, clearing virgin bush and
intensifying irrigation to obtain more arable land. There are also problems dealing with the
introduction of hitherto little-used or unknown foods like fish meal pastries,
algal bread, soy bean milk, and so forth.
The exploitation of so far untapped resources in the sea has a major drawback,
in that the catching and processing of midwater fish and squid (both of which,
admittedly, populate the oceans in billions of individuals) is a technically
difficult and very expensive venture which, to date, is uneconomical even for
the richest nations. Similar limitations
are found in suggestions which deal with the synthesis of artificial proteins
from coal and oil. While this is
possible in principle, and is already done in a few industrialized countries,
the process requires sophisticated technical know-how and financial backing
which most underdeveloped nations cannot hope to achieve in the next two
critical decades.
Today artificial proteins are not
much cheaper than the real thing, and if poor nations are meant to buy these
products from rich producer countries, the consequent imbalance of payments
would lead to an ever-increasing economical and financial dependence of the
poor on the rich nations -- even though the consumer countries might provide
the raw materials necessary to make the artificial foodstuffs.
Meyer-Rochow
mentions a number of well-known edible insects from around the world. He emphasizes that it is not his intention to
convert European people to insect foods, but he is convinced that
"entomophagy, direct or indirect, could ease the hazards of malnutrition
in countries where the consumption of insects by humans has only recently been
given up." He states:
There is no need to be ashamed of
eating insects. Indeed I can see no
sound reason why, in our society, oysters, crabs, or a Scottish haggis are
called delicacies, while beetles, pickled caterpillars or dried grasshoppers
are viewed with revulsion. For too long,
European habits have been regarded as a criterion for the degree of
'civilization' acquired by the indigenous people of many countries. Instead of preserving their own identity,
many so-called 'primitive people' have been led to believe that aping the
European way of life was the fastest way to be accepted by European society. While this might have been true in colonial
times, it no longer holds today.
Meyer-Rochow
continues:
Once entomophagy has been revived in
some countries (which would perhaps be easier than the introduction of new and
unknown food products, local enterprises could develop around an existing
market for edible insects. It should be
emphasized that insects need not be consumed directly, but could be given to
poultry or other domestic animals.
Certain fast growing insect species could be bred commercially, and
particularly palatable forms could be hand-collected or baited in the
field. Very often adults of seasonally
abundant crop pests are strongly attracted to light and can easily be caught
with traps at night. These and other
measures would help in ridding plantations of pest insects while at the same
time enabling valuable protein to be collected.
Such activities could even boost local food industries, as insects may
be sold preserved (for example, cooked and canned, dried or pickled), fresh or
in the form of 'insect meal.'
Meyer-Rochow
concludes:
Environmental scientists, of course,
would have to keep a watchful eye on any large scale exploitation of insects
outside of cultivation in insect farms.
But what will happen once insects are bred commercially under scientific
control and subjected to the attentions of food research specialists? Probably quite a lot: in the past 80 years the daily milk
production of a single cow has risen tenfold, chickens now lay an egg almost
daily instead of one per week, and pigs have been bred with additional ribs to
provide more grilling chops. For
insects, however, there is as yet no such success story, because until recently
food scientists with a European background have not even dreamed of insects as
human food. In their minds, insects existed
only as food destroyers and pests.
Proper research in insect farming, backed financially by international
organizations like FAO and the World Health Organization, might result in
similar advances to those in European animal husbandry mentioned above.
Meyer-Rochow (1976)
reiterates many of the points made in his 1975b paper regarding the potential
of entomophagy in helping to meet world food needs. He notes that the Australian aborigines
formerly ate a wide variety of insects and that central Australian tribes such
as the Walbri and Pintupi still do.
"Here insects represent a genuine food category -- their
consumption is by no means a mere emergency measure." He notes that the average weight of the
larval witchety grub is 1.2 g wet weight and 0.777 g dry weight and provides
the following data on proximate analysis (percentage with dry weight listed
first, then wet weight): protein 38%,
16.5%; carbohydrate 5.7%, 2.5%; fat 39.8%, 17.2%; fiber 16.2%, 7.1%; water (wet
wt. only) 56.7%.
Macfarlane (1978)
briefly describes the pattern of European intrusion into central Australia over
the past century. There is little in the
early records to indicate that aborigines were subject to malnutrition in the
early days of white settlement.
Aborigines ate essentially anything that was digestible by an
omnivore. Macfarlane mentions that
social organization, the sharing with other members of the group anything that
was caught, also tended to reduce malnutrition.
He cites earlier studies on types of foods used, noting that
caterpillars, ants and beetle larvae were background staple and that sugar from
honey ants and Hakea flowers were among the favorite foods. Macfarlane makes brief reference to the use
of insects by the Ngatjatjara at Kudjuntari, a group with minimal European
contact, on the southern fringes of the Rawlinson Ranges during November and
December, 1963. It was during a period
of long drought (several years).
European contact was limited to every three months when a truck from
Woomera came through to keep contact and distribute some flour, tea, sugar and
condensed sweetened milk for children (which was often consumed by
adults). As good supplies of kangaroos
were being obtained, there was not much pressure to dig for frogs or hunt for
grubs. Macfarlane states:
But cossid larvae from the mulga
were gathered by the women. The moth
larvae of Xyleutes biarpiti (mako witjuti) from Acacia kempeana
were collected more as snacks than as major dietary component. Similarly the honey ant, Melophorus inflatus,
was dug up twice in a week. Young women
dug briskly for these 1 cm diameter honey storage ants, which were enjoyed by
those who did the work, but there were not enough ants caught to provide one
for each member of the hoard [sic]....Several hands-full of caterpillars were
caught, cooked and eaten, but only by one family.
From this and other study sites,
Macfarlane concluded: "The overall
picture of these hunter/gatherer hordes, as they made contact with European
foods and culture, was that of well fed infants and adults. Traditional foods involved less hunting and
gathering as acculturation increased..."
Cutter (1978)
provides a breakdown of the current Aboriginal population as follows: 1) Urban (relatively assimilated), 2500
approximate population; 2) Urban (living in fringe areas), 1000; 3) Settlements
and missions, 5500; 4) Rural (cattle stations), 3000; 5) Rural (outstations),
2000. Cutter states (p. 63):
Most Aboriginal people are now quite
non-nomadic, living in conditions similar to those of traditional times, e.g.
humpies, wood fires, family groups. They
generally live on the outskirts of a white society and are very dependent upon
it. With the changes that have already
occurred in Aboriginal society, most people are now dependent upon a cash
economy for food clothing and transport.
The reasons why people moved from a
traditional, self-sufficient hunter/gatherer economy to a squatter society in
the first place are not clear. It
certainly was not in search of better health, material possessions or social
order. The major reasons were probably
related to accessibility of food and water and the pressures of authorities to
live in settlements. Since government
and mission authorities have accepted the outstation movement and at least
given it tacit support, people are moving back to traditional areas and thus
reinforcing traditional culture. The
greater income now available and good seasons have also encouraged this. However, despite this decentralisation trend,
most people even in these areas accept and want to maintain a cash economy and
'white' services.
Cutter
mentions witchetty grubs as a minor food, saying: "The men would be out hunting kangaroos
and hopefully bush turkeys or emu, and the women would be digging for rabbits and
witchetty grubs. Other bush foods such
as wild tomatoes, yams, goannas and honey ants would also be sought and
eaten." Cutter concludes: "Aboriginal people have already
demonstrated that they do not want to be assimilated into white culture but
they do want to integrate some of the features of white culture into their
own."
Meyer-Rochow (1978/1979)
reviews different uses to which insects are put by traditional societies and
proposes a classification of the uses.
The coverage of edible species largely repeats information in the
author's previous publications.
Bardon (1979)
gives a concise discussion of the "Dreamtime" (mentions ants and
grasshoppers among others) (p. 9) and discusses and reproduces paintings
produced by Aboriginal artists of the Papunya settlement in the Northern
Territory. Several tribal groups live
there although Papunya is not the traditional region for any of them. Bardon states (p. 7): "These tribal artists have inherited an
ancient knowledge which may not survive their own lifetimes. They pass it on to young men who wish to
learn from them, and happily there is a revival of interest, among the younger
people, in this traditional life..."
Honey ants (p. 40) and witchetty grubs (p. 64) are among the subjects
included in the paintings. T-shirts and postcards depicting honey ant dreaming
(each animal and plant has a "dreaming" - the story of its creation
and importance, where it is found and the correct time for the collection (Roff
1983)) are for sale in many tourist areas.
Gould (1980: 2; vide Oliver 1989: 160) reported that a Pitjantjara group in the
Western Desert distinguished 47 varieties of small game and other fleshy food,
including grubs. The women provided the
plant food, which made up about 80% (by weight) of the food supply throughout
most of the year, and another 10% by collecting small animals and animal
products. The men provided the meat,
which was valued highly but made up no more than 10% of the annual food supply.
James (1983)
provides a partial nutrient analysis on 63 species of indigenous foods,
including four insects (see under Formicidae and Cossidae below). The study was conducted primarily to
determine the value of bush foods in the survival of Defence forces, as well as
to obtain information of use to nutritionists concerned with Aboriginal health
and feeding habits and to those investigating new commercial food sources.
Hercus (1989),
citing earlier studies, states that distinctions made between grubs in
Aboriginal languages usually refer to the habitat (Johnson 1943):
Thus in the Wangkangurru language of the Simpson Desert the green caterpillars that appear in large numbers after rain and feed on the fresh grass are called wadnhamarra (Lower Southern Aranda anhemare). Root grubs (larvae of buprestid beetles and cossid moths) are called pardi, and this word is also used as a general term for all caterpillars. The grubs from box-trees have the special name pitha-kapurru (larvae of hepialid moths, Cleland 1966: 144). The very large green caterpillars that live in foliage are called yatinjan