Kito’s Global Dining and Cafe’s co-owner Rosie Powell and cook Marissa Gilbert decided to include johnny cakes, a traditional soup and kangaroo rissoles as their way to mark NAIDOC week. 

“We decided to do a couple of dishes as our special for the month that are very significant in most Aboriginal communities,” Ms Powell said.

“They are usually handed down from grandmother to mother to daughter to niece and nephews, so it’s quite significant with this year’s NAIDOC theme ‘Because Of Her We Can’.

“It’s about those strong women passing on our traditions.” 

Ms Gilbert and Ms Powell’s were originally from Narrandera and learnt these recipes from the women in their family. 

“My mother is Aboriginal, we’re all Wiradjuri,” she said.

“We are proud Wiradjuri women and we’re all working together now and passing on those traditions and showing our children the importance of working hard and giving back to the community.

“Our grandmothers and our great-grandmothers showed us these recipes, so it’s great to be able to show our kids and it’s important for future generations to continue the culture and the traditions.”

Ms Powell encouraged Wagga to get behind NAIDOC week and support Indigenous Australian culture. 

“It’s good to be able to celebrate to show the future generations our culture and show them it is great to be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders,” she said.

“This year’s theme acknowledges the strong black women within our families and the community and the influence they have on our culture.” 

Ms Gilbert said every family had their own way of doing johnny cakes, whether that was using milk, or cooking them in a pan without oil or serving them with jam. 

 NAIDOC Week 2018 started on Sunday July 8 and continues through to Sunday July 15.