Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander food and nutrition (SACE Stage 2 Nutrition)
“Examine Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander food practices and the factors affecting the nutrition and health of Indigenous communities”
Traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diets were varied, seasonal and nutrient rich, based on native plants, game, fish and bush foods, paired with an active lifestyle. Colonisation, dispossession from land, and the shift to processed store foods, especially in remote areas with limited access and high prices, have contributed to higher rates of diet-related disease in many communities. Community-led programs, store initiatives and a revival of traditional foods aim to improve nutrition. You should be able to examine these practices and the factors affecting Indigenous nutrition and health.
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What this dot point is asking
You need to examine traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander food practices and explain the factors that affect the nutrition and health of these communities today.
Traditional food practices
Before colonisation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples ate a varied, seasonal diet drawn from the land and sea. This included native plants, seeds, fruits, tubers, game such as kangaroo, fish, shellfish and other bush foods, often described together as bush tucker.
These diets were generally high in protein and fibre and low in added sugar and saturated fat, and food gathering involved a lot of physical activity. Food was tied to culture, kinship and knowledge of country, with detailed understanding of seasons, locations and preparation passed down across generations. Sharing food was a social and cultural practice, not just nutrition.
What changed
Colonisation and dispossession disrupted these practices. Removal from traditional lands cut access to native foods and the activity of gathering them. Over time, many communities shifted to introduced, processed store foods high in sugar, fat and salt.
This dietary transition, combined with social and economic disadvantage, contributed to higher rates of diet-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity in many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities compared with the wider population.
Factors affecting nutrition and health today
- Food access and remoteness
- In many remote communities, fresh and healthy foods are less available and more expensive, while shelf-stable processed foods are cheaper and easier to stock. Long supply chains reduce quality and choice.
- Cost and income
- Lower average incomes and higher food prices in remote areas make a healthy diet harder to afford, a clear example of how economics shapes food choice.
- Social and historical factors
- The ongoing effects of dispossession, disadvantage and disruption to culture influence health and food security.
- Community-led responses
- Many improvements are driven by communities themselves: healthy store policies, subsidised fresh food, nutrition education that respects culture, and a revival of traditional and native foods. Solutions led by and with communities tend to be more effective and respectful than those imposed from outside.
In many remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, healthy food is less available and more expensive than processed food. This means nutrition is shaped strongly by food access and cost, not simply by individual choice, which is central to evaluating fair solutions.
Approaching this respectfully
This dot point should be examined with respect and accuracy. Traditional diets were sophisticated and healthy, current challenges have historical and structural causes, and the most effective responses are community led. Avoid generalising or implying that poor nutrition reflects individual failure.
Step 1: Describe the situation
A remote community store stocks mostly shelf-stable processed foods because fresh produce is costly and spoils on the long journey in. Set out the access and cost barriers first.
Step 2: Identify the nutrition problem
Diets lean on energy-dense processed foods, raising rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes, while fresh fruit and vegetables are under-eaten because of price and availability.
Step 3: Design a community-led response
Work with the community to subsidise fresh produce, improve cold storage and supply chains, place healthy foods prominently, and run culturally appropriate nutrition education that includes traditional foods.
Step 4: Justify why this works
Because the barriers are access and cost, not individual choice, lowering price and improving availability directly changes what people can buy. Community ownership builds trust and lasting change. A high-mark answer ties each action to the barrier it removes.
- Describing traditional diets as primitive or poor
- They were varied, nutrient rich and well suited to the environment, paired with high activity.
- Blaming individuals for current diet-related disease
- Access, cost, remoteness and historical dispossession are major structural causes.
- Treating all communities as the same
- Circumstances vary widely between urban, regional and remote communities.
- Ignoring community-led solutions
- Effective programs are designed with communities, not imposed on them, and this point often carries marks.
In short, traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diets were varied and nutritious, but colonisation, food access and cost have created nutrition challenges that are best addressed through community-led approaches.
Exam-style questions
Questions in the style of SACE Board exam questions on this dot point, each with a worked answer. They are written by ExamExplained unless tagged "Past paper"; the year shows the paper a question is modelled on.
SACE 2022-style3 marksExplain how food access and cost in remote communities can affect the nutrition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.Show worked answer →
For 3 marks, link remoteness to availability, to cost, and then to a nutrition outcome.
In many remote communities, long supply chains mean fresh foods such as fruit, vegetables and lean meat are less available and arrive in poorer condition (1 mark). These foods are also more expensive than in cities, while shelf-stable processed foods high in sugar, fat and salt are cheaper and easier to stock (1 mark).
Because healthy food is harder to access and afford, diets can shift towards processed foods, raising the risk of diet-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes (1 mark). The key point is that nutrition here is shaped by access and cost, not simply individual choice.
SACE 2021-style4 marksDiscuss why community-led programs are often more effective than externally imposed programs in improving the nutrition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.Show worked answer →
Four marks need reasons, not just the claim, with a clear judgement.
Community-led programs draw on local knowledge of food, culture and circumstances, so they fit the community rather than a generic plan (1 mark). They build trust and ownership, which improves participation and makes change last (1 mark).
They can also revive traditional, nutrient-rich foods and respect cultural practices, unlike imposed programs that may ignore them and meet resistance (1 mark).
Judgement: because nutrition challenges here have historical and structural causes, solutions designed with communities are more respectful, relevant and durable than those imposed from outside (1 mark).
Practise this
Sources & how we know this
- Stage 2 Nutrition subject outline (2025 onwards) — SACE Board
- Stage 2 Nutrition: external assessment — SACE Board