Karkalla at Home (Mindy Woods, Murdoch)

Karkalla at Home: Native foods & everyday recipes for connecting to Country by Mindy Woods is a remarkable cookbook showcasing contemporary recipes with native Australian ingredients. The book ‘extends an invitation to all people to connect with the world’s oldest-surviving civilisation, bringing it into their homes and everyday lives’ and opens with a heartfelt note from representatives of the Bundjalung Nation about sharing their culture. Woods, a Bundjalung woman from the Widjabul Wia-bal and Nyangbul clans of northern New South Wales, is a chef and restaurateur. Best known for her Byron Bay restaurant, Karkalla, and for appearing as a contestant on MasterChef in 2012, she opens the book with an overview of native food landscapes and the native seasons for Bundjalung Country (including general observations and bush tucker notes). Karkalla at Home includes information on sourcing native ingredients to stock the pantry and a wide range of recipes covering everything from breakfast to entertaining; for each featured ingredient, the book includes botanical names, tasting notes and page references for recipes using them. This level of detail can help build confidence and deepen a reader’s understanding of the ingredients, making this a fantastic recommendation even for beginners. Karkalla at Home is a treasure trove for the culinary-curious, offering a rich journey through some of the 6500 ingredients unique to Australia. This exciting new cookbook captures the essence of modern Australian cuisine—it’s bold and fresh and expertly blends the First Nations and multicultural influences that shape contemporary Australia.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Jess Lomas is the editor for reviews at Books+Publishing. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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