Each day this week in the lead-up to Australia Day on Friday, we discover native ingredients with a series of recipes to celebrate the Spirit of Australia.
Kangaroo is a lean meat with less than 2% fat, making it a healthier red meat option which is also high in protein, essential B vitamins, minerals such as zinc, iron, omega-3 fats and omega-6 fatty acids.
Compared to beef, kangaroo contains double the amount of iron and triple that of chicken and pork. Eating wild meat such as kangaroo is considered also better for your health as you can be sure there are no added growth hormones, antibiotics or chemicals.
While many Australians find it a little daunting to eat kangaroo or emu, as they are both on the country’s Coat of Arms, they are both extremely tasty proteins when cooked correctly.
As kangaroos are indigenous to the Australian environment they can get by with eating a variety of indigenous scrub and don’t rely on the production of grain for feed, making eating this meat more sustainable and better for the environment than most other meat consumption.
Likewise, as they are wild animals they don’t need to be farmed in the conventional way, which require land clearing and the destruction of habitat. Kangaroos generally eat less than other grazing animals such as sheep and cattle, which places less stress on the land and requires no irrigation or use of harmful synthetic inputs like fertilisers and pesticides.
Utilising more Australian indigenous ingredients in our cooking makes sense when it comes to eating sustainably as these plants and animals are built to thrive in our climate and offer a diversity of taste that our largely European diet doesn’t.
When sourcing kangaroo meat, make sure to use a supplier that only harvests male animals and follows the commercial code.
Try this delicious recipe for black pepper kangaroo from Chef and author, Ben O’Donoghue, served with broccolini and steamed rice for your next weeknight dinner and discover the taste of Australia!
Check out the rest of this series here:
AGFG acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, to the Elders past, present and emerging.
