Eating Bugs, Floaters and Bums in Australia

Eating Bugs, Floaters and Bums in Australia

Australians are an irreverent bunch, militantly down-to-earth, not folks to put on airs, and thus quite likely to get along well with Yanks, who share some of those same tendencies.

In line with their tongue-in-cheekiness, Aussies have named some foods in ways that seem intended to challenge, to make potential eaters think twice before consuming them.

“Bugs” as served in the restaurants of Oz are not insects but rather crustaceans, though ones that look somewhat more alien than lobsters or shrimps. Before my trip down under, I thought bugs were langoustines; turns out, they’re something else entirely.

Here’s how a bevy of bugs looked all cooked up at an pub in the Outback:



The texture of these creatures was more like lobster than shrimp, though in taste much less assertive than either.

A few days ago, I spotted bugs in their raw state at the Adelaide Central Markets. These little bastids were the most expensive item in the seafood case:



Just so you’re not confused about bug anatomy, the part facing the camera that looks like a lobster tail is actually the front of the creature, which has recessed eyes almost undetectable by human ones.

At Arkaba Station, in a converted sheep shed, I enjoyed a Lamb Pie Floater, which is a minced lamb pie dropped into the center of minty pea soup. These are all flavors I liked, so I had to order one. I enjoyed the zany novelty of a pie in a bowl of soup, the crunchiness of the pastry was as pleasing as croutons, and it was a very tasty dish, but “floater,” really? My Aussie bros, did you have to name it that?



We ended our meal at Arkaba Station with a Cat's Bum, a lemon tart of sorts:



Where’d the name come from? Well, when you eat something sour, like a lemon, imagine the shape your lips take. I believe you receive the meaning.

Perhaps the British heritage is at the root of this nomenclature (after all, it was the Empire that gave us Spotted Dick), but these unappetizing Aussie names for foods starting me thinking about American foods that are similarly named. So far I’ve come up with Shit on a Shingle (creamed chipped beef on toast –I believe this naming convention originated with GIs who did not intend it to be complementary), Dirty Martini and, as I think about it, Cod. You may know a few others…

I was invited to South Australia by the tourism commission who did their best to give me a taste of all the cool things this southerly state has to offer; more to come.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I love bugs -- sweet and tender. I think you'd pay less in Queensland.

Any chance they'll take you out to Kangaroo Island? It's just 1/2 an hour from Adelaide -- and it's really remarkable. That said, it's only amazing for things like caves, rock formations, sea lions, their own kangaroos, and intense bird life -- but not food. So they may skip that. But some nice wine places in South Australia.

And maybe if you go inland, you'll get to try some "bush tucker" -- foods the Aborigines find in the bush. There, rustling up some grub can refer to wichity grubs, large, soft, pale grubs that bore through the roots of wichity bushes. (So not all the unfortunate names are metaphoric.)

Hope you continue to have fun. It's a wonderful place. If you need a guide in Nuriootpa, let me know.

Cynthia wrote:Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I love bugs -- sweet and tender. I think you'd pay less in Queensland.

Any chance they'll take you out to Kangaroo Island? It's just 1/2 an hour from Adelaide -- and it's really remarkable. That said, it's only amazing for things like caves, rock formations, sea lions, their own kangaroos, and intense bird life -- but not food. So they may skip that. But some nice wine places in South Australia.

And maybe if you go inland, you'll get to try some "bush tucker" -- foods the Aborigines find in the bush. There, rustling up some grub can refer to wichity grubs, large, soft, pale grubs that bore through the roots of wichity bushes. (So not all the unfortunate names are metaphoric.)

Hope you continue to have fun. It's a wonderful place. If you need a guide in Nuriootpa, let me know.

Cynthia, yes, I did go to Kangaroo Island...and was able to find some bush tucker into the deal.

Back home now...returned with some KI Eucalypt honey (Ligurian bees on island are quarantined -- no evidence there of Colony Collapse syndrome).

Alas, no grubs for me, though I did ask around. Did you try them? I've heard they're "custardy."

David Hammond wrote:
A few days ago, I spotted bugs in their raw state at the Adelaide Central Markets. These little bastids were the most expensive item in the seafood case:

Those look like what us Yanks call slipper lobsters. I once caught one of those devils using only my bare hands and a mesh bag while scuba diving off the coast of Palm Beach.

David Hammond wrote:

Cynthia wrote:Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I love bugs -- sweet and tender. I think you'd pay less in Queensland.

Any chance they'll take you out to Kangaroo Island? It's just 1/2 an hour from Adelaide -- and it's really remarkable. That said, it's only amazing for things like caves, rock formations, sea lions, their own kangaroos, and intense bird life -- but not food. So they may skip that. But some nice wine places in South Australia.

And maybe if you go inland, you'll get to try some "bush tucker" -- foods the Aborigines find in the bush. There, rustling up some grub can refer to wichity grubs, large, soft, pale grubs that bore through the roots of wichity bushes. (So not all the unfortunate names are metaphoric.)

Hope you continue to have fun. It's a wonderful place. If you need a guide in Nuriootpa, let me know.

Cynthia, yes, I did go to Kangaroo Island...and was able to find some bush tucker into the deal.

Back home now...returned with some KI Eucalypt honey (Ligurian bees on island are quarantined -- no evidence there of Colony Collapse syndrome).

Alas, no grubs for me, though I did ask around. Did you try them? I've heard they're "custardy."

Wonderful. Don't know how much of KI you got to see, but I hope you at least got to see a bit of wildlife -- and perhaps the Remarkable Rocks.

As for the wichity grubs -- while I've eaten a fair bit of bush tucker, as well as some game, I managed to avoid those.

stevez wrote:
Those look like what us Yanks call slipper lobsters. I once caught one of those devils using only my bare hands and a mesh bag while scuba diving off the coast of Palm Beach.

I'm impressed -- both with the scuba diving and the capturing lobsters with your hands. (I hope you got to eat the one you caught.)

And yes -- the Aussie foodies I've chatted with said bugs are similar to slipper lobsters -- though there are a number of varieties of bugs to try, depending where you are along that very long coastline. (Seafood is just one of the things that makes Australia a dandy foodie destination.)

stevez wrote:

David Hammond wrote:
A few days ago, I spotted bugs in their raw state at the Adelaide Central Markets. These little bastids were the most expensive item in the seafood case:

Those look like what us Yanks call slipper lobsters. I once caught one of those devils using only my bare hands and a mesh bag while scuba diving off the coast of Palm Beach.

I was in Dirk's yesterday getting some big ole prawns and oysters for tonight; the great man confirmed that bugs are, indeed, slipper lobsters.

Moreton Bay Bugs are just about the same price in Brisbane, I can verify that fer shure.

One of the most wonderful places I've ever spent some time in is the Sydney Fish Market—as noted earlier, seafood in Oz is quite simply remarkable. And no one even looked twice when I carted an 8kg fish home from the Fish Market on the trolley. Just like DH said while starting this thread off, Aussies and Yanks get along just fine.

Geo

Geo wrote:Moreton Bay Bugs are just about the same price in Brisbane, I can verify that fer shure.

One of the most wonderful places I've ever spent some time in is the Sydney Fish Market—as noted earlier, seafood in Oz is quite simply remarkable. And no one even looked twice when I carted an 8kg fish home from the Fish Market on the trolley. Just like DH said while starting this thread off, Aussies and Yanks get along just fine.

Geo

Yes -- Australia is one of the planet's great foodie destinations. You've got the amazing seafood, lush tropics for exotica, proximity to Asia for more exotica, wine regions everywhere -- and you don't even have to go to the really high-end places to eat well. On a camping in Tasmania, we had rock lobster, because it was so affordable. And there was a Cambodian place I loved in Sydney where tea was free, but it was 40 cents to rent a cup.

But seriously -- even the shopping mall food courts are pretty amazing -- Malaysian, Lebanese, Indonesian, Japanese, Greek. And even 20 years ago, food carts on the street in Perth had grilled octopus and hot goat curry. Just a splendid place to eat, even on a budget.