ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the native foods component of Australian food tourism in order to reveal the unique opportunities and discusses the implications it may hold for the ethics and conduct of gastronomic tourism. It argues that gastronomic tourism offers promising opportunities for Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to earn income, build successful enterprises, and practice custodianship of native foods. The chapter offers opportunities for tourists to appreciate and understand Indigenous food and culture and thereby have more enriching gastronomic tourism experiences. It describes the multiple benefits that may be derived from tourists experiencing native foods through the gastronomic tourism encounter. The niche of native foods in gastronomic tourism marks a special space where issues of Indigenous rights, settler–colonial relations, and reconciliation come to fore. Native foods presented in gastronomic tourism from a position of respectful engagement and intercultural dialogue has the potential to enhance the food tourists’ understanding of “food story”, its origins and history.
