The Outback Highway cuts a path through the northern Flinders Ranges.
It’s emu and saltbush country, full of low shrubs and wandering wildlife.
In the cooler months, the highway is a popular route with four-wheel drive adventurers and those heading north for a glimpse of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre.
On a road where the pubs are few and far between, the Prairie Hotel at Parachilna is like a beacon in the desert for thirsty travellers.
But behind the welcoming façade, the food is anything but ordinary.
At the Prairie, what you see along the road outside is just as likely to appear on your plate.
Chef Naomi Hamilton calls it ‘feral food’.
“We’re eating our coat of arms,” she says.
“[It’s] not what we find on the road, but we definitely eat what you can run into and injure your car or yourself with.”
Dishes like emu liver paste and camel sausage are served up with a touch of Aussie humour.
“A couple got their own back today because an emu hit their car and damaged it quite a lot, so they decided to get two emu burgers for their lunch,” says Ms Hamilton.
The menu is always changing, but the central theme of native ingredients and introduced species that roam the outback is a constant.
Local ingredients aren’t limited to meat.
“We use a lot of Aboriginal herbs and spices, like bush tomatoes… and quandongs in the desserts.”
Parachilna used to be a stop on the old Ghan railway line, but the line was rebuilt to the west in the early 1980s, and the town’s popularity with tourists gradually faded.
When Jane Fargher and her husband took over the Prairie Hotel some years later, they wanted to find another way to put the town back on the map – and so the unique menu was born.
These days you don’t have to visit the desert to get a taste of the outback.
At Adelaide’s Central Market, Something Wild is a majority Indigenous-owned store selling specialty local meats.
Store Manager Joanna Dunn says the wild foraged herbs and wild hunted Australian meat on offer are becoming increasingly popular.
“The bulk of the meat is wild… [about] 80 per cent wild,” she says.
“Roo, kangaroo, wallaby, wild boar, goat, all wild shot. Rabbit as well. Some of the product like emu is farmed.”
Outside the small market store, a young woman and her partner stop to try some crocodile with quandong sauce.
“It’s a little salty,” she says. “But I like the sauce, it’s so sweet.”
Back at the Prairie Hotel, chef Naomi Hamilton admits not everyone will be sold on some of the more unusual products.
“The camel mettwurst on the anti-pasto platter…” she muses. “Not my cup of tea, but a lot of people do love it,” she says with a smile.
“My personal favourite is the harissa goat.”
For those who dare to try, it’s a wild Australian adventure of a slightly different kind.
