DINKUM DINING
Wild turkey without the kick
For those who relish fresh, naturally produced food, Kangaroo Island is a paradise
Story by OUTBACK's "nomadic chef", Adrian Millman
All
over Kangaroo Island, natural and introduced food sources blend harmoniously.
Fat sheep munch on rolling green pasture fringed with wallaby-inhabited ti-tree and wattle.
On sunny days warm sealed roads are a magnet for metre-long sand goannas. And peacocks and European bees thrive in the bountiful bush along side kangaroos and possums.
But for mouth-watering bush tucker its hard to beat the island's plump, tasty wild turkeys.
Like
several introduced species on this picturesque island off South Australia's
Fleurieu Peninsula, wild turkeys, introduced in the 1930s have thrived in
the wild.
The absence of foxes, dingoes and rabbits has aided their survival. But don't confuse wild turkeys with the Australian brush turkey, protected species that is also found on Kangaroo Island.
Our "kitchen" was a cliff-top clearing above scenic Hanson Bay, where sleek New Zealand fur seals rest on sweeping beaches.
I built my oven from limestone rocks collected from the cliff-top,
lined it with half a 44-gallon drum and fuelled the oven with mallee roots
from the surrounding scrub. 
Full story: Issue 6, August-September 1999
