Going wild over the real flavour of aussie meat

I ENTERED Funky.Food keen and curious, but in the back of my mind I was just praying the traditionally-raw ingredients would not be so on this occasion.

I've come to try the sushi dish-twist of Funky.Food's owner-operator Robyn de George and Cheryll Thompson - sushi featuring kangaroo, emu and crocodile.

“We started it out last week with the 'hoo roo' taste-test and the feedback was really good,” Mrs de George says.

“We tried to stick with the Aussie theme.”

And they have - in ingredients and presentation.

A plate with miniature flags and petite, tasty-looking sushi rolls arrives. And the meat is cooked!

I like sushi, they look good - I grab one and take a bite.

It's Skippy, and I'm hopping-mad for it.

The kangaroo is mouth-wateringly marinated in muscatel and Australian and Chinese spices, “to balance out the strong flavour of the game,” I am told.

Crocodile is next and the perfect catalyst to soak-up the Kenyan curry sauce base, staying true-blue to their spicy - one “with bite” theme.

They continue on about the roasted capsicum “for the red colour,” light-heartedly aggrandising about their creations emulating the “golden hues of the climate” and “Uluru”.

The emu has an almost corned silverside texture in thinly-sliced pieces, mingling wonderfully with the lemon myrtle sauce.

The ladies admit Australia Day and the fact that we can eat our own coat of arms was the motivation behind the experiments.

Mrs de George says she's ecstatic to work with someone who brings different ideas to the table - and that's what Ms Thompson did.

I decide I'm on board, particularly after discovering earlier in the day that all three meats are “very lean meats compared to traditional meats,” as Bundaberg community nutritionist Christine Sorbello said.

I'm comforted by the fact that our coat of arms (and crocs) are good sources of protein, as well as being high in iron and zinc, with kangaroo meat being a particularly good source of omega fatty acids (required in small amounts to benefit the heart and brain).

To order a special twist for the Australia Day weekend, telephone Funky.Food on 4151 0718.