Marindja first launched at the Wanderer Festival in late 2025. Photo: Marindja – fill your belly/Facebook.
Have you ever eaten kangaroo?
In the opinion of Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council’s (ELALC) Clair Mudaliar, it’s a “great meat”.
“Kangaroo is actually a great meat to eat because it’s really low in fat. It’s really lean, so there’s hardly any wastage,” she said.
“It’s not a fatty meat, so it’s much better for you … It’s very good for you, a very healthy alternative to red meat.”
It’s also the star of the kangaroo nachos, one of the menu items at Marindja – Eden’s newest food truck.
The name means ‘fill your belly’ in the South Coast language as spoken by elders, and the team is often seen feeding customers on Eden’s wharf.
In addition to making appearances several times a week at the wharf, the food truck is locked in to appear at several local events in 2026, Ms Mudaliar said.
“We’ve had great feedback and really positive reviews from people trying the food,” she said.
“The food has been a really exciting part of the venture for the cooks that we’ve got working for us [who are] having a play with native bush tucker-inspired flavours.”
The food truck was “the little baby” of CEO Dean Muscat, making its debut at the Wanderer Festival in late 2026.
“He has worked in hospitality in his previous life, before being CEO,” Ms Mudaliar said.
“He was pretty keen to bring in an opportunity to train up local mob in hospitality, give them opportunities and provide some regular paid employment.”
Menu items are inspired by bush tucker, with dishes developed by the chefs working in the food truck, with new meals always being developed and tested.
“Sometimes it’s a big thing – like having kangaroo in the dish as the main part.
“But sometimes it might be something really subtle, like prawn tacos with lemon myrtle in the aioli … They were really keen to experiment with all those flavours and bring them into every dish.”
She believes the food truck represents an opportunity to showcase traditional foods to new audiences and long-time fans alike (after all, more people have now tried kangaroo).
“It’s also about raising awareness of the amazing ingredients that Aboriginal people have been eating for thousands of years, and a lot of the rest of the community in Australia aren’t even aware of or don’t even know exist.”
Most of the food truck’s crew are Aboriginal, according to Ms Mudaliar. Photo: Marindja – fill your belly/Facebook.
For Ms Mudaliar, the Marindja food truck is about more than food – though serving up delicious food is part of it.
“It’s a really good opportunity to raise awareness of those sorts of ingredients,” she said.
“If you do [see it], it’s more likely a big, fancy restaurant along Sydney Harbour or top-dollar menus.
“A food truck with native Australian bush food is something you don’t see that often, I reckon.”
Once a major renovation to the ELALC’s kitchen (set to start later this year) is finished, the two initiatives will form part of their catering and tourism experiences offerings.
“After the cafe opens, the food truck will be a good buddy to the cafe,” she said.
“[We would] be able to offer catering, do big events and that kind of thing and raise awareness of the cafe.”
Ms Mudaliar also teased plans to sell some of Marindja’s products in stores.
“A dream goal is that the crew we’ve got in the food truck will be creating their own house-made products that we can sell – their own syrups for native sodas, their own jams, their own lemon myrtle aioli,” she said.
“It would be really cool if one day we could [bottle it] and sell it.”
Find Marindja at the Eden wharf between 9 am and 2:30 pm (Thursday to Sunday) and at events around the region. Their locations are also confirmed through their Facebook page.
