Tyape - Grub Food

(Tyap-a) are edible grubs, caterpillars or other insects. The grubs, which are mostly the larve of different types of moths, are a fairly popular food but caterpillars and other insects are not eaten very often these days.

 

Arrernte	Tyape atnyematye
English	Witchetty Grub
Scientific	Xyleutes leucomochla
Story	You find cracks in the ground under the Witchetty Bush (Acacia kempeana) and dig there. You lever up the root which is swollen because of the grub inside, and break it and pull the grub ot. You can eat it raw or cook it in hot earth and then eat it. You can put the guts from the grub on sores, where you have got pain, or when you are feeling sick.

Arrernte	Tyape ingwenenge
English	River Red Gum Grub
Scientific	Trictena argentata
Story	This grub lives in the trunk of the River Red Gum. You chop the tree with an axe and use a grass hook to pull out a big, fat one. The grass hook is made from a type of long grass that is found in creeks. You cook the grub n hot earth and eat it. You can also eat it raw.

Arrernte	Tyape tyerraye
English	Cicadas
Scientific	Thopha saccata
Story	In the past people used to eat cicadas. They'd dig them out of the ground, from the high ground next to creeks, or from the banks. Their holes are like spiders' holes. People would catch them when they were drying after shedding their shell, or sometimes from the ground when they were still in their shells. They used to eat them raw or cooked. They'd toss them in the coals and then eat them.

Arrernte	Tyape ayepe-arenye
English	Tar vine caterpillars
Scientific	Celerio lineata livornicoides
Story	People used to gather them while the catterpillars were eating the plant. They would put the ayepe-arenye on the ground and squeeze the guts out into a little hole, and then cook the caterpillars in hot soil. Then they get them out and leave them in the sun for two or three days to dry. Then they would share them around and eat them

Compare with Sonoran Desert culture.