Celebrating Country includes expressing our gratitude for and appreciation of Australian native food. Indigenous people traditionally ate balanced diets of seasonal fruits, nuts, roots, vegetables, meats, and fish available in their tribal area. Local knowledge of edible plants, optimal harvest time, and preparation methods were passed down by word of mouth to the next generation.

Like all true foods, many native foods are healing and health-promoting. Antimicrobial and antioxidant qualities are found in mountain pepper berry and leaves, Warrigal greens, forest berry, lemon aspen, Davidson plum, Burdekin plums, riberries, native mint, lemon ironbark, quandong, forest berry, lemon myrtle, and aniseed myrtle. Kakadu plums have the highest vitamin C content of any fruit in the world.

As interest in Australian native food grows, we have a responsibility to educate people about their intrinsic value as part of the ecosystem. We also have a unique opportunity to learn how to create EcoSocial Enterprises that honour the wisdom of this land and naturally enrich Country, people, and planet.

Yaama Dhiyaan is a hospitality training college, cafe, and function centre specialising in modern Australian indigenous cuisine in Darlington, Sydney. Under the leadership of Aboriginal elder, Aunty Beryl Van-Oploo and Aboriginal chef Mathew Cribb, Yaama Dhiyaan offers training to Indigenous and non-Indigenous people who aspire to a career in the hospitality industry. The opportunity to gain professional training that leads to long-term employment is essential to individual and community wellbeing.

Yaama Dhiyaan's achievements go beyond what we usually expect from a hospitality college. By learning about nutrition during their training, some students, who are parents, are cooking healthy meals for their family. It also offers courses on local knowledge about nutrition, caring for the land, and indigenous cooking methods to school groups in Sydney. During such visits, the students have the opportunity to learn about Australian native food and sample kangaroo pies, damper, and lemon myrtle salad.

Yaama Dhiyaan means 'welcome family and friends' in Aunty Beryl's Yuwaalaraay language of the Gamillaroi people of north-west New South Wales. And, it is living up to its name, as it has become a valuable connection place for the local indigenous community as well as the wider Australian community.