Hayley Blieden is the brains behind The Australian Superfood Co , a company on a mission to shift the focus of Australian food culture to the native ingredients that sustained Indigenous Australians for over 70,000 years . Hayley works with communities and growers to make native Australian ingredients more accessible and has been integral in introducing these foods to high-end restaurants and mainstream food and beverage manufacturers .
Recently , DC ’ s Kate Agnew was lucky enough to steal an hour of Hayley ’ s time to talk about her unique dietetic career path .
Tell us about your story as a dietitian and how The Australian Superfood Co was born ?
I completed my dietetics degree at Monash Uni in Melbourne in 2009 and I loved the course … I loved my placements … but it didn ' t quite sit right with me that we were only treating sick people . The public health , sports and food angles were where I wanted to move . I completed the sport dietetics course and was offered a job as a part time dietitian at North Melbourne Football Club . From there I worked as the general manager at Shotz Sports Nutrition and then I went on and started researching Australian native ingredients . I was interested in what ' s sustained Indigenous Australians for over 70,000 years and was shocked that Australians ( myself included ) didn ’ t know about these foods .
" Why do we think that our food culture revolves around lamingtons and Vegemite ? We have Kakadu Plum that has the highest vitamin C content of any food on Earth and Lemon Myrtle , which is an excellent vegan source of calcium . These are all foods that nature gave to us and they ' re so super nutritious and delicious ."
© Dietitian Connection 35 Infuse | May 2021