Bush bread

Bush bread

Damper being prepared in hot coals
Alternative names	Seedcakes
Type	Bread
Place of origin	Australia
Region or state	Aboriginal
Main ingredients	Flour (from various seeds), water

Bush bread, or seedcakes, refers to the bread made by Aboriginal Australians by crushing seeds into a dough that is then baked. The bread is high in protein and carbohydrate, and forms part of a balanced traditional diet.^[1] It is also sometimes referred to as damper,^[2] although damper is more commonly used to describe the bread made by non-Indigenous people.

With the arrival of Europeans and pre-milled white flour, this bread-making process has almost disappeared (although women were still recorded to be making seedcakes in Central Australia in the 1970s). The tradition of cooking bread in hot coals continues today.

Bread-making was a woman's task. It was generally carried out by several women at once, due to its labour-intensive nature. It involved collecting seasonal grains, legumes, roots or nuts, and preparing these into flour and then dough, or directly into a dough.^{[citation needed]} One of the traditional ingredients was the seeds of kangaroo grass.^[2]