A highlight of the Winter Feast, as part of the Dark Mofo festival in Hobart, is the palawa kipli stall, where you can grab traditional Tasmanian Aboriginal foods with a modern take. Kitana Mansell is the manager of palawa kipli and is excited to be gearing up for another busy Off Season.

How did palawa kipli begin? My cousin Tim Sculthorpe started palawa kipli in 2018, showcasing the business and our foods at market stalls across nipaluna / Hobart such as the Winter Feast, Taste of Summer and corporate events. I had the privilege of working with him during the start of the business at the Winter Feast and seeing customers really embrace our culture, stories, and food. The business was then purchased by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre in 2020 where I then became manager because of my experience at palawa kipli and my bush foods knowledge from my previous job at Mac Point.

What are you excited about for palawa kipli this winter? I’m excited to be running the palawa kipli Winter Feast food stall for my third time and sharing our cultural food with locals and inter-national visitors. I’m also really excited to get the fire going before and after the kipli takara tours for winter as it gives everyone on the experience that connection to fire and keeps the international visitors feeling warm and cosy during the colder months in Lutruwita / Tasmania.

How have the kipli takara tours been going? The kipli takara tours have had a lot of international and interstate guests come along to experience our tour and catering, which has been fantastic – to exchange cultural knowledge from different nationalities and experiences from their own homes that remind them of other first nation tours they have been on. However, we really encourage more locals in Lutruwita / Tasmania to come along and learn about their own state’s history and to start planting or using these native plants they most likely have naturally growing in their own backyards and aren’t even aware of it until they come on our tour. We really encourage people to support local Aboriginal businesses in Lutruwita / Tasmania and create a more sustainable future for all.

What will palawa kipli bring to the Winter Feast this year? Well of course the yula (Mutton bird) is staying on the menu, with various bush foods mixed into the dish. Our taralangkana (Angasi) oysters will be tempura along with a native spice mix and sauce. Then our native infused ice cream, one being tapu (Pepperberry) and Leatherwood honey, and our second flavour wurayni (Wattleseed) and coffee liqueur ice cream.

What is your favourite winter meal? Favourite winter meal would be the salted yula (Mutton bird) along with heaps of delicious vegetables, like a stew but replacing that with the yula and plenty of salt! Us blackfullas love SALT!!!

What’s your hope for palawa kipli over the next ten years? I think it’s quite obvious that in Lutruwita / Tasmania we have so many restaurants showcasing each and every cultural food – unfortunately we are yet to have a local food restaurant that represents palawa kipli / Tasmanian Aboriginal food, so I hope to see one up and running over the next few years. I also see a great vision at piyura kitina / Risdon Cove to have all of the 250 bush foods growing on the property, to encourage more palawa people to come and harvest their foods to eat at home, and to sell cuttings for locals to grow at home so no one needs to go into the wild to harvest our bush tucker. I’d like to sell bush tucker products under palawa kipli and to add more plant knowledge to the kipli takara tours as these new bush foods grow over the years.

Head to palawakipli.com for more information or to book a kipli takara tour. Currently booking tours through to July. You can also follow on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.