SYDNEKSIDE WITH JANET PARR Mrs Whitlam’s economy recipe

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33928, 22 August 1975, Page 5

SYDNEKSIDE WITH JANET PARR Mrs Whitlam’s economy recipe

Mrs Margaret Whitlam’s recipe for savoury mince has, at the very least, the virtue of simplicity — a couple of pounds of hamburger mince browned with a sliced onion, then a chopped green pepper and a can of tomato soup cooked in with enough water added as needed to keep the whole thing “saucy.” At the same time you boil up a saucepan of rice to eat with it. Total cost is just on $2 and it feeds eight. It makes a “meaty meal in minutes,” according to the recipe book in which it appeared, one put out by a Queensland high school. The book includes some favourite foods of some other wellknown political personalities. The Federal Liberal Party leader, Mr Malcolm Fraser, likes what he calls “opposition cake,” the Queensland Premier, Mr Joh Bjelke-Petersen, a sago plum pudding. The former Liberal leader, Mr Billv Snedden, enjoys a dish of scones. The farmers’ friend, Mr Doug. Anthony, leader of the National Country Party, has a taste for Italian tagiatello. I have not seen any record of whether the Prime Minister likes mince the way his wife suggests doing it. A lot of other people were less than enthusiastic on the ground that if you happened to be one of the eight people being served you would get a lot of boiled rice and not verv much of anything else. For $2 Miss Maggie Sutton, of Bondi Junction, in Sydney, says she can do a lot better and provide more nutrition with a couple of pounds of chuck steak choked with carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, onion, peas, beefstock cubes and garlic if you like it. Alternatively, tinned tuna and cooked vegetables can be added to a white sauce to be served over pasta. Miss Sutton, buying her (chuck steak at 45c a pound in Bondi Junction, possibly has an edge on cost on Mrs Whitlam, who pays 49 cents a pound for hamburger mince in Canberra. WILDFOODS

But for inflation-whipping both could learn something from another book which also had its origins in Queensland. If you are hungry, it says ip effect, pick something. The book, “Wild Food in Australia,” is the work of two well-known Queensland botanists, Dr A. B. Cribb, who is a specialist in marine fungi, and his wife Mrs J. W. Cribb, who has done research on underground fungi. Above ground and on dry land they have found a considerable quantity of edible food growing wild and tried a lot of it. Some they did not like. Some did not suit the human stomach too well. But for those with a mind to try how the Aboriginals lived before Australia was settled and what was naturally available to the first settlers, the Cribbs have produced an extensive and authoritative guide, as well as some interesting reading for those who just want to read. For the lost and stranded the book could be a life saver.

Many of Australia’s native plants are now protected and so cannot be gathered wild for food. But some have become garden pests like Wandering Jew (Comrnelina), which could be served up boiled and buttered. Two “natives” have been successfully and com-

mercially exploited, though not really by Australians. The Queensland nut, better known as macadamia, has been virtually taken over byHawaii and Botany Bay greens, which were eaten on board Endeavour, are better known today as New Zealand spinach. I WATTLE FRITTERS Some others are cultivated , in Australian gardens. ! Wattle flowers, for instance, lean be made into fritters to be served with sugar and whipped cream. From out- i side the garden, say the, Cribbs, saltbush can be |

boiled, yellow marsh cress and wahlenbergia (the Australian bluebell) made into salad. A few species of truffle have been found. The list of native fruits that can be jammed, jellied, cooked or dried is quite long and sounds appetising. There are the native currant, the finger lime, the native orange, North Queensland lime, native tamarind, Da-

vidson’s plum, cloves, capers and ■ wild rice, the Cape gooseberry, types of litchi and persimmon, even that old pest, the prickly pear. Early settlers used sassafras for tea and as a tonic. The explorer, Ludwig Leichhardt, was a resourceful man with a taste for trying things. He cooked the native comquats or desert lemons and found they made

a dish “very like gooseberry fool.” And, say the Cribbs, he learnt a lot about what he could eat from what he saw the birds and marsupials eating. One of these “tasters,” however, is not too reliable because it can eat poisonous seeds and pass them through its body without harm. So beware, they say, the cassowary.