Cooking Ways

Cooking, Ceremony, and Fire: The Preparation of Native Foods in Victoria

Fire is the heartbeat of Country. For tens of thousands of years, Indigenous peoples of Victoria — including the Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri, Taungurung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Gunditjmara, Gunaikurnai, and Yorta Yorta Nations — have used fire not only to shape landscapes but to prepare, preserve, and share food.

Cooking was never a separate act from ceremony or ecology; it was an expression of respect, transformation, and connection. The flames that roasted a kangaroo tail or smoked an eel also renewed soil, signalled seasons, and cleansed spirit.

This article explores how Indigenous communities across Victoria used fire as both a culinary science and a spiritual language — a practice that continues to sustain cultural identity and ecological balance today.

Fire as Law and Element

Fire (Wurdi in Wadawurrung language) is sacred. It represents life, renewal, and responsibility.
Across Victoria, fire law governed how, when, and why it was used — for cooking, healing, or burning Country.

In Wadawurrung Country, fire was carefully timed to the six seasonal cycles.
During Poorneet (tadpole season), small burns cleared old grass and encouraged the growth of edible roots such as murnong (Microseris walteri) and lomandra. During Bullarto (dry season), fires were used to cook meats and seeds in open coals or ground ovens.

Fire was never wasteful or random — it was a partner in regeneration and nourishment.
As Wadawurrung Elder Melinda Kennedy notes:

“Fire feeds us, heals us, and teaches us. When we light it with care, we bring Country back to balance.”

Methods of Cooking: Fire, Earth, and Smoke

Indigenous cooking methods were refined over millennia to maximise nutrition, flavour, and sustainability — long before Western culinary science understood heat control or slow cooking.

1. Open Fire Roasting

The simplest and most common method, open fire cooking used glowing coals rather than high flames.
Kangaroo, wallaby, and emu meat were skewered on green sticks and slowly turned until browned.
Smaller animals — bandicoots, birds, and reptiles — were roasted directly in ashes.

Fish and shellfish were placed on heated stones or wrapped in paperbark and laid beside embers, retaining natural juices.
In coastal Wadawurrung areas such as Breamlea and Connewarre, roasting fires lined the dunes — cooking shellfish, eels, and sea greens like pigface and warrigal cabbage.

2. Earth Ovens (Ground Ovens)

For larger feasts or ceremonies, a ground oven — or murndal — was prepared.
A pit was dug and lined with hot stones. Leaves or bark were layered to prevent burning, then meat, fish, or roots were placed inside, covered with earth, and left to cook slowly for hours.

This produced tender, smoky meat — kangaroo tails, emu legs, and tubers like murnong and yam daisy — infused with the flavour of leaves and woodsmoke.
On Wadawurrung and Gunditjmara Country, earth ovens were social events — shared meals that brought families, Elders, and visitors together.

The process was both culinary and ceremonial, honouring the animals’ spirit and thanking Country for its generosity.

3. Smoking and Preservation

Smoking was one of the most sophisticated food preservation techniques in pre-colonial Australia.
Fish, eels, and meats were hung over slow-burning fires made from specific woods such as eucalyptus or wattle.

Among the Gunditjmara, smoked eels from Budj Bim were a valuable trade item, transported across hundreds of kilometres (UNESCO 2019).
Different smokes were used for different purposes:

• Eucalyptus smoke: purifying, antiseptic, and used for preservation.

• Cherry Ballart smoke: sweet and aromatic, used in ceremonial smoking.

• Wattle smoke: grounding, used to flavour meats and cleanse spaces before feasts.

Smoke was not only a preservative — it was a healer.
Victorian Indigenous communities used smoke to cleanse newborns, protect travellers, and calm spirit before communal meals (Clarke 2009; Atkinson 2002).

4. Ash Cooking

Ash cooking was used for eggs, tubers, and small game.
Emu eggs were buried directly in hot ashes, cooking gently through the shell.
Tubers like yam daisy or bulbine bulbs were placed in embers, emerging caramelised and sweet.
The ashes themselves often came from medicinal woods, infusing the food with subtle flavours and antiseptic qualities.

5. Steaming in Leaves

A method of precision and care, steaming used the natural moisture of green leaves.
Fish, shellfish, or roots were wrapped in fresh reeds, lomandra, or paperbark, placed in an earth oven or over coals, and steamed slowly.
This technique preserved nutrients, softened fibres, and created a subtle herbal flavour.

It was especially common near rivers and wetlands — on Yorta Yorta, Gunaikurnai, and Wadawurrung Country — where reeds and sedges grew in abundance.

Cooking as Ceremony and Story

Cooking in Victorian Indigenous cultures was a spiritual act as much as a practical one.
Food could not be prepared without permission from the land and acknowledgment of the beings that provided it.

Before a meal, Elders or hunters often performed short smoking or thanking ceremonies, addressing the spirit of the animal or plant.
During large gatherings — such as eel harvests, corroborees, or initiations — cooking became communal storytelling: songs, language, and memory carried through the aroma of smoke and earth.

Each person held responsibility:

• Elders directed preparation and portioning.

• Women tended fires and root cooking.

• Men handled game and fish.

• Children learned by watching and listening.

This was education through experience — cooking as cultural transmission.
The smell of roasted yam or smoked eel was not just food; it was identity.

Healing Through Fire and Smoke

Different fires held different purposes — culinary, medicinal, or spiritual.
Smoke healing, widely practiced across Victoria, used specific plants to treat both body and spirit.

Eucalyptus and Wattle Smoke

Used to cleanse wounds, drive away insects, and reduce infection. The oils contain natural antiseptics — cineole and terpenes — now used in modern medicine (Clarke 2009; DEECA 2022).

Cherry Ballart Smoke

Used in mourning and healing rituals, helping to realign spirit after loss.
The sweet smoke was believed to restore emotional balance and invite positive ancestral guidance.

Tea-tree and Lomandra Smoke

Burned for colds, congestion, and anxiety.
Lomandra roots could be boiled for medicine, while smoke soothed sinuses and encouraged relaxation.

These fires were lit with care and intent. Each smoke had a spiritual frequency — a medicine of both chemistry and energy.

The Science of Indigenous Cooking

Modern food science confirms the advanced ecological and nutritional knowledge embedded in Indigenous cooking techniques:

• Slow, indirect heat preserved nutrients and prevented carcinogenic compounds.

• Smoking extended shelf life through natural antimicrobial oils.

• Leaf steaming reduced nutrient loss compared to boiling.

• Earth ovens provided even heat distribution — an ancient form of convection cooking.

• Fire management renewed ecosystems, ensuring continual food supply (CSIRO 2020).

These methods demonstrate not only culinary skill but environmental intelligence — a system where cooking, soil fertility, and plant regeneration were all part of one process.

Wadawurrung Country: Fire, Food, and Kinship

On Wadawurrung Country, from the You Yangs to Lake Connewarre, cooking with fire was a communal act of kinship.
The Barwon River and Moorabool Valley provided eels and fish smoked in red gum wood; the volcanic plains supplied yam daisies roasted in earth ovens; and the coastal dunes of Breamlea gave shellfish steamed in paperbark bundles.

Fires burned low and constant, surrounded by laughter and story.
Every flame linked people to the spirit of the land — a living continuity of nourishment, identity, and gratitude.

As one Wadawurrung teaching says:

“We do not just cook food. We cook life — with smoke, with story, and with care.”

Impact of Colonisation

Colonisation extinguished many traditional fires — both literal and cultural.
Open fires were banned; earth ovens were destroyed by grazing and fencing; access to rivers and coasts was restricted.
Mission rations replaced natural foods with flour, sugar, and salted meat, severing the sensory and spiritual connection between people and Country.

The loss of fire practice was also the loss of ecological management — grasslands grew dense, invasive species spread, and the balance of renewal was broken.

Revival and Contemporary Practice

Today, fire and food traditions are being rekindled across Victoria.

• Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation leads fire and food workshops, teaching controlled burns and bush cooking.

• Gunditjmara Elders at Budj Bim demonstrate eel smoking and stone oven cooking at cultural festivals.

• Wurundjeri and Taungurung educators integrate earth ovens into school programs.

• Indigenous chefs blend native ingredients with traditional techniques — earth baking, smoking, and leaf steaming — celebrating the science of Country.

These revivals reconnect communities to ancestral methods, while also informing modern environmental and culinary innovation.

Conclusion

Cooking in Indigenous Victoria was never merely about eating — it was about balance, belonging, and the dialogue between human and land.
Through fire, people gave thanks, shared story, and healed Country.
The earth oven, the glowing ember, and the curl of smoke each carried lessons: patience, respect, and reciprocity.

Today, as communities reignite these practices, fire once again becomes both teacher and healer — a reminder that to cook is to care, and to share food is to sustain the spirit of Country itself.

References

Atkinson, J 2002, Trauma Trails: Recreating Song Lines, Spinifex Press, Melbourne.
Clarke, PA 2009, Australian Aboriginal Ethnobotany: An Overview, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
CSIRO 2020, Australian Native Foods and Traditional Cooking Methods, CSIRO Publishing, Canberra.
DEECA Victoria 2022, Traditional Fire and Land Management in Victoria, Department of Energy, Environment & Climate Action, Melbourne.
Gott, B 2019, The Yam Daisy: A History of Aboriginal Plant Use in Victoria, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.
Museums Victoria 2023, Aboriginal Food, Fire, and Cooking Collections, Museums Victoria, Melbourne.
Pascoe, B 2014, Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture, Magabala Books, Broome.
UNESCO 2019, Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, World Heritage Centre, Paris.
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV) 2023, Cultural Fire and Bushfood Practices in Victoria, RBGV, Melbourne.

Written, Researched, and Directed by James Vegter (28 October 2025)
MLA — Magic Lands Alliance
Sharing the truth of Indigenous and colonial history through film, education, land, and community.
www.magiclandsalliance.org

Copyright MLA – 2025

Magic Lands Alliance acknowledges the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and First Nations communities across Australia and internationally. We honour their enduring connection to the sky, land, waters, language, and culture. We pay respect to Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Peoples’ communities and language groups. This article draws only on publicly available information; many cultural practices remain the intellectual property of their respective communities.