Indigenous Australian Food Groups - Top End

Top End

In the Top End, seafood plays an important part in the diet. The food groups and their Yolngu names are:

MARANHU (foods)

Yolŋu name	Foods
Murnyaŋ' (plant or vegetable food) Alternative names: Dhäkadatj; Ŋayaŋay', Buku-bira'	Gonyil (meat, shellfish, eggs) Alternative names: Matha-yal, Merrpal'Matha-bira, Ŋänarr-yal
1. Borum— fruits	1. Warrakan'— land animals and birds
2. Guku— bee products	2. Miyapunu— marine mammals
3. Ŋatha— root foods	3. Maranydjalk— rays and sharks
4. Manutji Ŋatha— seeds	4. Guya— fish
5. Mudhuŋay— cycad foodstuffs	5. Maypal— shellfish, crabs
	6. Mapu— eggs

The old people would talk about the need to eat from both murŋyan' and gonyil food groups and the need to supplement their diet with gapu (fresh water). While this balance was maintained, the people knew they were eating correctly.

When the men would come back from the magpie goose hunt, they would be craving murnyaŋ foods after having eaten so much meat and eggs. Meanwhile, the women, children and old people back in the camps would be looking forward to gonyil, magpie goose meat and eggs, after eating so much murnyaŋ'.