Taking Karkalla on Country

BUNDJALUNG chef Mindy Woods is taking her native food dining experience to the outdoors, with Karkalla on Country launching later this month.

The MasterChef alumni said regenerative organic farm Conscious Ground in Myocum was a far more appropriate place for what she wants to do than her bricks and mortar restaurant Karkalla in Byron Bay, which closed earlier this year.

“When I opened Karkalla it was my dream to make it a culturally immersive experience, but where a cultural experience really belongs is on Country,” she said.

The three-hour experience includes a Welcome to Country performed by an Indigenous elder to welcome visitors onto the land, which Woods describes as like knocking on someone’s door, and a smoking ceremony.

Guests will receive canapes and a cocktail on arrival before taking part in a guided walk through the native food forest where Woods sources ingredients and a multi-course menu with matching drinks.

Dishes may include offerings such as crocodile larb, oysters smoked in paperbark and fire-roasted pencil yams with dry aged kangaroo rump.

There will also be petit fours, such as saltbush caramels (a native spin on Fantales) and toasted lemon myrtle marshmallows.

“I really wanted to push the boundaries of people’s perception of native food and make them realise there’s more to it than witchety grubs,” Woods said.

Woods also wants to include art, history and culture in the experience.

“I think cultural tourism is overdue in our area,” she said.

“We have Aunty Delta’s Explore Byron Bay tours, but to have an experience touching on so many different elements of First Nations culture gives us a great sense of belonging.

“We come from an ancient culture but we’re modern people and we want to bring our culture to the modern world.”

The first Karkalla on Country experience, which is limited to just 20 people, will be held on Saturday, October 19 from noon to 3pm.

For more information and to book, visit events.humanitix.com/karkalla-on-country