The Aborigines are the native people of Australia. Traditionally, they lived a nomadic lifestyle, and they ate whatever was available and seasonable. According to Better Health Channel, there was little instance of diet-related disease. After white settlement and the modernization of Australia, many Aborigines became assimilated into modern society, and their diet underwent significant changes. As a result, diet-related illnesses, like cardiovascular disease and diabetes, are now much more prevalent among the indigenous people.
Traditional Diet
The traditional Aboriginal diet reflected a nomadic lifestyle, in which tribes moved from place to place depending on the season and conditions. They were hunter-gatherers, not cultivators, so they lived off whatever was available depending upon their current location. According to the Australian government website, Aboriginals hunted native mammals and birds such as wallaby, kangaroo and emu, and foraged in the bush for berries, roots and nectars. Closer to the shore, Aborigines caught fish or harvested shellfish, which were abundant.
Variety
A nomadic lifestyle meant that the Aboriginals could migrate from place to place where food was most plentiful. According to the Australian Government's "Bush Book," the Aboriginal diet included a wide range of animal and plant foods and was rich in nutrients. Even in more arid climates, there was a large variety of foods from which to choose, and "early explorers observed that people were lean and healthy."
Food Preparation
The Aboriginal diet was centered on freshly killed and foraged animals and plants. There was little processing of foods or preserving; vegetables were often eaten raw, resulting in a high nutritional value, and meat was fresh and eaten rare, usually in one sitting. Aborigines ate little starch and almost no sugar. Nectars and honey ants were considered delicacies and rarely eaten.
Modern Diet
With white settlement came many changes in the Aboriginal diet. Over time, the nomadic lifestyle became more rare as indigenous people became indentured on cattle farms or worked in other Western industries. They had little opportunity to hunt or forage and began to eat more of the Western staples, such as sugar, flour and processed meat. The aboriginal diet quickly became lacking in essential nutrients, protein, vitamins and minerals.
Food-Related Diseases
The modern Aboriginal diet is a far cry from what it once was. Many Aborigines live in cities now, or in remote areas where access to fresh fruits and vegetables is limited. The Better Health Channel reports that modern Aborigines "eat more fast food and salt than non-indigenous people," and "indigenous people of the Northern Territory consume more sugar, white flour and carbonated soft drinks than the Australian average." Such a diet has quickly become linked to an increase in food-related illness among Australia's indigenous people, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, circulatory disease, stroke and cancer.
