The Koori Cook-Off involved three teams cooking and serving a recipe from Hunter New England Health’s Deadly Cooking program.

Team ‘Black and Deadly’ served up kangaroo meatballs with quandong chutney dipping sauce; ‘Red Earth’ cooked native dukkah-flavoured chicken fried rice and ‘Sweet Tucker’ made lemon myrtle-flavoured berry and banana sundaes, which were all available for the audience to taste test after the competition.

The challenge took place in the Walkabout Kitchen, a mobile kitchen trailer that has all the cooking equipment needed to take cooking to the outdoors.

Deadly Cooking program participants were invited to judge the entries, with the Black and Deadly’s “kanga bites” announced the winner.

The Deadly Cooking program is a Hunter New England Health Close the Gap initiative that aims to promote practical cooking skills and increased knowledge of healthy eating and physical activity among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Kay Dhu recently took part in Deadly Cooking at Cessnock.

“We have fun cooking healthy food, it’s fantastic,” she said.

The program also provides the opportunity for social interaction between indigenous people in the area.

“We all sit down and have a yarn,” Cessnock participant Michelle Sinclair said.

“And the food is so easy to cook, you can do it all at home.”

Deadly Cooking is run by a qualified dietitian with the assistance of an Aboriginal health worker.

The adult program runs for six weeks and is offered in venues across the Cessnock region, while kids’ programs are presented to local primary schools in Cessnock and Kurri.

All indigenous people and their families are welcome to take part. To register your interest for the next Deadly Cooking program, call Cessnock Community Healthcare on 4991 0438.