Ecology of Food and Nutrition Bush Tucker, Shop Tucker

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Ecology of Food and Nutrition Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gefn20 Bush Tucker, Shop Tucker: Production, Consumption, and Diet at an Aboriginal Outstation Brooke A. Scelza a , Douglas W. Bird b & Rebecca Bliege Bird b a Department of Anthropology , University of California Los Angeles , Los Angeles , California , USA b Department of Anthropology , Stanford University , Stanford , California , USA Published online: 17 Jan 2014.

To cite this article: Brooke A. Scelza , Douglas W. Bird & Rebecca Bliege Bird (2014) Bush Tucker, Shop Tucker: Production, Consumption, and Diet at an Aboriginal Outstation, Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 53:1, 98-117 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03670244.2013.772513

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Bush Tucker, Shop Tucker: Production, Consumption, and Diet at an Aboriginal Outstation

BROOKE A. SCELZA Department of Anthropology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA DOUGLAS W. BIRD and REBECCA BLIEGE BIRD Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

Foraging models have rarely been used to address how behavior is altered by the presence of non-foraged foods. Here, choices of store-bought and hunted foods in one Aboriginal community are analyzed. Hunting occurs frequently, but community residents also purchase food from the shop. Increases in the frequency of hunting certain large and small prey are associated with reduced access to food in the shop. Higher-variance hunt types are not associated with shop purchases, but continue to be acquired due to their cultural signiﬁcance. The variation in these results highlights the complexity of dietary behavior in a mixed economy.

KEYWORDS Aboriginal Australia, diet, hunting, mixed economy

Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014 INTRODUCTION

Foraging models have been used to great success among ecological anthro- pologists to understand patterns of hunting and gathering around the world. Despite early inﬂuential studies investigating the role of alternative, non- traditional food sources in mixed economies (e.g., O’Connell and Hawkes 1981), applications of these models have since tended to focus on decisions foragers face in acquiring “wild” resources. Most empirical work famed by foraging theory documents the details of trade-offs hunters face during focal

Address correspondence to Brooke A. Scelza, Department of Anthropology, University of California Los Angeles, 341 Haines Hall, Box 951553, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

98 Bush Tucker, Shop Tucker 99

follows (e.g., Bliege Bird and Bird 2008; Hawkes et al. 1991; Hill et al. 1984) or the frequency of foraging, diet breadth or food sharing through scan sam- pling or time diaries (e.g., Alvard and Nolin 2002; Hames and Vickers 1982; Smith 1991). Descriptions of how foraging is integrated into the larger nutritional context of these societies is usually qualitative, and only rarely have studies looked at the behavioral interplay between market and non-market food sources, despite the fact that most foragers have regular access to alternative food sources through market integration, subsistence horticulture, government and NGO aid, or through trade with neighboring non-forager groups (Headland and Reid 1986; Hill and Hurtado 1996; Lee 1972). While the amount of non-traditional foods consumed by hunter-gatherers varies, from lows of about 5%–10% among the Hadza (Marlowe 2010) to highs of closer to 60% among some Inuit and Australian Aboriginal groups (Sharma et al. 2010), the numbers are increasing in many locales, and younger gener- ations are frequently consuming more non-traditional foods than their elder counterparts (Condon, Collings, and Wenzel 1995), with substantial negative impacts on health and wellbeing (Kuhnlein et al. 2004; O’Dea 1985; Popkin 1993). Studies that have looked at the integration of traditional and non- traditional foods among foragers have found striking results. In Australia and elsewhere, public health researchers have documented a number of important implications of such transitions in societies where market integration is occurring (Popkin 1993). Traditional forager diets tend to be low in fat, sugar, and salt and high in protein, fiber, and most essential vita- mins and minerals (Brand-Miller and Holt 1998; Eaton and Konner 1985; Kuhnlein et al. 2004). In contrast, many of the store-bought foods that are now available to forager groups are high in fat and sugar and low in nutri- ents (Sharma et al. 2010). The integration of these new foods has led to startling increases in rates of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease (Kuhnlein et al. 2004; O’Dea 1985). In contrast, inclusion of foraged foods in the diet has been shown to have positive health benefits, even revers- ing some of the negative effects of nutrition transition. Just two weeks on Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014 a traditional diet led to improved glucose tolerance among an Aboriginal group living in the Kimberley (O’Dea and Spargo 1982), and a seven week reversion led to significant weight loss and decreases in several indicators for Type II diabetes (O’Dea et al. 1991). A better understanding of how bush foods are integrated into the diet could therefore be useful for future public health programs aimed at increasing access to and consumption of foraged foods.

Production Decisions in a Mixed Economy Decisions about the distribution of productive activities among foragers in mixed economies are commonly modeled as choices between hunting and 100 B. A. Scelza et al.

gathering and other subsistence-based modes of production (e.g. Kennett and Winterhalder 2006). Such decisions are based on patch choice models, which treat different types of mutually exclusive subsistence activities as patches characterized by different sets of opportunity costs, currencies, and constraints (Kelly 1995; MacArthur and Pianka 1966). For example, a study of Mikea forager-horticulturalists shows that when opportunity costs and future discounting are considered, low-investment cultivation is favored over intensive agriculture as a complement to foraging (Tucker 2006). Foraging offers immediate returns, while cultivation offers higher rewards, but with a delay and some risk of failure. Intensive agriculture requires more inputs and higher risk, making it more difficult to balance with foraging. Similarly, among the Machiguenga, patch choice theory comparing various currencies (calories and protein) is used to explain the persistence of a mixed strategy of hunting and horticulture (Keegan 1986). The increasing juxtaposition of foraging with globalizing market economies provides the opportunity for mixed subsistence modes involv- ing choices about whether to forage or to purchase one’s food. Changes in the costs of acquiring such market foods have been shown in some cases to have substantial effects on foraging decisions, both in quantity and in kind. Ziker (2002) found that Siberian hunters devoted more time to hunting, fishing and gathering when the Soviet Union broke up and goods from community stores became less reliable and more expensive. When the Ojibwa became more sedentary and store-dependent, hunting patterns shifted toward more non-migratory (i.e. less search-intensive) species (Bishop 1970). In Australia, grass and tree seed use among Alyawarra of Central Australia, had declined dramatically by the 1970s despite the continued importance of hunting. O’Connell and Hawkes (1981) found that hunting returns in the sand plain and mulga woodland were such that when women traveled to these patches, if they chose to handle the abundant grass seeds, they would have dramatically reduced their foraging efficiency. Cane (1987) found similar results among the Gugadja of the Western Desert: here too, handling seeds was especially costly. Based on predictions from the Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014 classic prey choice model, O’Connell and Hawkes (1981) hypothesized that the incorporation of commercial flour in the diet reduced pressure on high ranked resources, which in turn increased overall foraging efficiency, nar- rowing the range of resources taken on encounter. The price of market goods necessary for hunting such as guns, bullets, fuel, and vehicle maintenance also has significant impacts on the rates of foraging in communities reliant on these technologies (Lambden et al. 2006; Pelto 1973). We might therefore expect shifts in consumption over days or weeks to reflect shortages in cash or food. Changes to the reliability or availability of either foraged or non- foraged foods may then trigger relatively immediate shifts in production and consumption patterns. Bush Tucker, Shop Tucker 101

The extent to which foraged and purchased foods are substitutable may vary. Some foods are valued primarily for their caloric inputs, while others seem to have greater utility as social currency. Among many foragers facing increasing integration with the market economy, differential treatment of foraged and nonforaged foods is common. In the Arctic, only foraged foods are widely shared between households (Collings, Wenzel, and Condon 1998) and in Torres Strait, feasts are more likely to be structured around hunted turtle than around purchased meats (Bliege Bird and Bird 1997). The extent to which shortages in cash or food influence foraging would be expected to be related to the degree to which purchased and foraged foods have the same “utility”: whether used primarily for consumption and provisioning, or for sharing and social prestige. Here we explore how short-term shifts in the availability of purchased foods influences the foraging decisions of contemporary Aboriginal hunters (Martu) living in the Western Desert of Australia. The Martu were some of the last foragers to be integrated into the mainstream Australian economy, and they continue to rely heavily on hunting and gathering (Bird, Blige Bird, and Codding 2009, Bliege Bird et al. 2012; Codding 2011). Prior to European contact, Martu men and women both participated in hunting and collecting activities, but women acquired more of the small game and gathered food, while men acquired more larger game (see Veth and Walsh 1988; Walsh 1990). These same patterns continue to be evident today (Bliege Bird and Bird 2008). Between the 1940s and the 1960s the last groups of Martu came in from the desert, some picked up by government patrols, others coming in voluntarily due to drought and increasingly limited social and familial networks necessary for both everyday living and important ceremonial and religious events (Davenport, Johnstron, and Yuwali 2005). Many Martu settled at a mission in Jigalong, where they were subjected to strict behavioral guidelines and work requirements. Although they were introduced to many features of mainstream Australian life, Martu retained a strong orientation to their traditional culture and foraging economy. In the 1980s, two major forces prompted the establishment of “outstation” com- Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014 munities within the Western Desert. The first was the movement of mining companies into traditional homelands and the second was the gazetting of Rudall River (now Karlamilyi) National Park without Aboriginal consent over a large area of Martu homeland (Tonkinson, 1991). The move to Parnngurr and its sister outstations has allowed Martu to retain many of their traditional foraging and religious practices, and served as a platform for gaining Native Title to much of their homelands in 2002. Many residents continue to hunt and gather on a regular basis and have re-established mosaic burning regimes, which are essential both for their own foraging economy and for the general health of the land (Bird, Blige Bird, and Parker 2005; Bliege Bird et al. 2008; Bliege Bird et al. 2012). 102 B. A. Scelza et al.

Since leaving the bush and forming desert communities, first at Jigalong and later at the outstations, Martu have transitioned from a full-time foraging economy to one of mixed-mode subsistence. While hunting and gathering for “bush tucker” continue to be prominent daily activities for many adults, all Martu now engage to some extent with the market economy: purchasing food (or “shop tucker”), paying rent, and acquiring a variety of material goods and services. Parnngurr, the focal outstation for this study, is a small community, with about 30 domestic structures, one school and a small shop. Residents have running water and electricity, but the outstation remains quite isolated, about 350 km from the nearest small town on unsealed roads. Residence patterns within and between camps in Parnngurr and across Martu country in general are highly fluid, and daily population can fluctuate from 40 to more than 200 people depending on economic and social obligations throughout the region (Codding 2011). Here, access to cash (through social service payments), and access to food (through a small, community-run store) are both driven by cyclical patterns of alternating glut and scarcity (Scelza 2012). The community shop provides basic foodstuffs (flour, sugar, tea, rice) as well as assorted canned goods, soda and some meat and fresh vegetables. The meat that is available is typically less desirable cuts of frozen chicken and beef. Both the quality of and the ability to access the market foods patch exhibit strong temporal patterning. The vagaries of weather, transport and power outages cause food in the store (especially high quality foods like fruits, vegetables, and meat) to deplete markedly in between supply trucks, leading to a pattern of increasing ’market scarcity’ with time since supply. Individuals also experience changes in the costs of access to the market foods patch, which are independent of changes in scarcity. These costs of access are determined by economic scarcity, which is the temporal patterning in access to cash following payday. Few Martu obtain cash through wage labor: most elders receive government pension payments. Mothers, or any person who has been formally established as a primary caretaker, receive “parenting payments” which go up in amount depending on the number of dependent Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014 children. Most other adults are eligible for the Community Development Employment Program (CDEP), which provides part-time compensation for community labor. There is also a thriving art movement in the community, although at the time data for this study was collected in 2006 few individuals were collecting regular income from their painting (see Codding 2011 for detailed data and analysis of contemporary time allocation and residential patterns in Parnngurr). Government assistance payments are processed fort- nightly, and automatically deposited in community members’ bank accounts, generally on the same day. Individuals can then access this cash through purchase or cash-out POS transactions at the community store. The high cost of living, coupled with the strong demand sharing of both resources and cash, (Saethre 2005) results in quick depletion of cash following a payday. Bush Tucker, Shop Tucker 103

Cultural and Economic Significance It is difficult to overstate the cultural and economic significance of contemporary foraging in Parnngurr. As Codding 2011 shows, it is critical for supporting families and livelihoods in this remote community: hunting and gathering continues on a daily basis, although not all families will go out every day, and a few families hunt only rarely. Martu foraging activities are properly distinguished as separate “patches” of mutually exclusive sets of prey. There are two primary types of hunting that Martu engage in: on foot and in vehicles. The vast majority of time allocated to hunting by women goes toward pedestrian hunting of small to medium sized vertebrates (mostly monitor lizards, Varanus spp.). Here we refer to this as “sandplain hunting,” Men devote most of their time to vehicle hunting for bustards (Eupodotis aus- tralis) and pedestrian hunting of hill kangaroo (Macropus robustus). Feral camel (Camelus dromedarius) are occasionally hunted from vehicles (see Bird et al. 2013), and plains kangaroo (Macropus rufa), which are very rare in this part of the Western Desert, are rarely acquired, mainly on return trips from town. While hunting takes primary importance, gathered foods still make up more than 12% of all foraged foods by caloric value, mainly solanum fruit, cossid larvae, wild yams and onions, and nectar (Bliege Bird and Bird 2008). As with other remote Aboriginal groups, acacia and grass seeds are no longer regularly harvested. Detailed accounts of Martu foraging patterns have been recently published elsewhere (Bird et al. 2009; Bliege Bird and Bird 2005, 2008; Bliege Bird et al. 2008; Bliege Bird et al. 2012; Codding 2011; Walsh 2009). As Collings et al. (1998) discovered for the Inuit, different foods have different social values, shared in different ways to different sets of consumers. This variance is also evident among the Martu. Kangaroo are highly valued, frequently used to satisfy ritual obligations of support between young men and their mothers-in-law, and between initiates and their male elders. Kangaroo are ancestral to many Martu, the consumption of which ties individuals to the fundamental substance of country. More than 90% of a

Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014 kangaroo is routinely shared with 3–8 families, following ritual obligations of butchery and distribution. Sharing of kangaroo builds the reputation for generosity of the hunter, builds social relationships between himself and his in-laws, and garners him a reputation as a skillful hunter due to its difﬁculty of acquisition and low success rates. Bustard are similar. Monitor lizards, in contrast, are valued primarily for the reliable consumption beneﬁts they supply. They are a staple resource, used by women in forms of mutual exchange that build social ties between friends and hunting partners, and feed children. Sharing of lizard harvests builds reputations for generosity among small groups of friends and dyadic partnerships, tying individuals together as family through food (Bliege Bird et al. 2012). About 60% of a lizard harvest is routinely shared with 2–5 other individuals, with a greater 104 B. A. Scelza et al.

percentage shared of a larger harvest (i.e., people tend to keep a consistent amount for their own consumption, about 500 g, and share the remainder of their harvest, no matter how large). Camels are like monitor lizards in that they are valued primarily for the consumption benefits they supply, to people as well as to camp dogs. Although analysis of came sharing is still on-going, rough estimates suggest that hunters may keep about 20% of the animal for themselves or their dogs to consume. There are no social or ritual obligations that can be fulfilled using camel, although acquiring camel may provide young men with some reputation as a public goods provider. However, it does not appear to contribute to their reputation as a skillful hunter. The much higher success rate of camel hunts compared to other large prey is likely linked to both its primary consumptive value and its lack of caché in building reputation. Our analysis focuses on the four major hunting activities described above (camel hunting, bustard hunting, kangaroo hunting, and sandplain hunting of monitor lizards), and their relationship with both market scarcity and economic scarcity. By treating the store as a foraging patch, a simple patch choice model would predict (all else being equal) that as the quality of the patch declines, or the costs of accessing the patch increase, time allocation to that patch should decrease and time allocation to foraging should increase (MacArthur and Pianka 1966; Kelly 1995). If, however, some types of foraged foods are not easily substitutable with store foods (as might be suspected if foods are used to satisfy social, as well as provisioning goals), this relationship might be complicated by prey type (see Codding et al. 2011). In particular, we would expect low-variance prey (more likely to be used for provisioning) to be more likely to ebb and flow with the costs and availability of purchased foods, as compared with high-variance prey. Previous analyses of Martu foraging returns (Bliege Bird and Bird 2008; Codding et al. 2011; Bird et al. 2013) show that sandplain hunting has one of the lowest variances of the hunt types. Sandplain hunt return rates are associated with a coefficient of variation of .92, incorporating low variance due to failure (less than 10% bout failure rate) and low variance in expected Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014 harvest sizes when successful, mainly due to the fairly strong relationship between harvest size and time spent foraging. Camel, which have the high- est return rate of any Martu prey item, are also low-variance (CV = 1.27), and bout failures are uncommon (22%). Bustard and kangaroo hunting both are associated with moderately high returns, but very high variance (2.64 and 3.41 respectively), and a high degree of stochasticity with no relationship between harvest size and foraging time. The high degree of unpredictability in kangaroo and bustard hunts makes them unpredictable for provisioning but with their large harvest sizes means that shares can be widely distributed in large portions, providing value to the community. The much higher success rates for monitor lizard and camel hunts make them predictable for provisioning, but the small harvest size of lizard, and the low value of camel Bush Tucker, Shop Tucker 105

meat to others make them less valuable in gaining the social beneﬁts of being generous or skillfull. Given this, we expect that both camel hunting and monitor lizard hunting will be more likely to be associated with measures of market and economic scarcity than either kangaroo or bustard hunting.. The quality of the market patch (economic and market scarcity) should be a) negatively associated with low-variance (camel and sandplain) foraging effort and b) positively associated with reliance on the patch (total gross receipts). We also test whether camel and sandplain hunting (but not bustard and kangaroo hunting) also show substitutability: that is, both foraging activities should be associated with lower levels of purchasing in the shop, particularly for meat.

METHODS

Because details on fluctuations of daily food purchases were necessary for this study we acquired daily shop register receipts for a period of 61 days between January and April 2006. From these receipts the gross amount of money spent and totals for various food categories were calculated for each day. The categories used corresponded with those on the shop cash register, so the general category of “grocery” encompasses a variety of products including canned food, flour, sugar, tea, dried goods and snack foods. Other categories include: meat, fruit and vegetables, water, “cool drinks” (soda, canned juice) and tobacco (including both cigarettes and tinned tobacco). The first author spent several days observing cashiers in the shop to deter- mine which foods were rung in for each category and also worked the register on several occasions. To detect time-sensitive patterns in shop purchasing, two measures of scarcity were constructed. The first measures market scarcity as the number of days since the last shipment of food was delivered to the shop (days since loading). This measure has been clearly shown to reflect shop purchases in

Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014 this community (Scelza 2012). A second variable measures economic scarcity as the number of days since community members were given checks for labor and pensions (days since payday). This measure was not shown to be reﬂective of shop purchasing (Scelza 2012), but may have some impact on hunting patterns so it is included here. For 40 days during the period covered by the shop register receipts, and for an additional 54 days, we also conducted a time allocation survey covering the entire community. On each sample day, at least one member of each household was approached and asked about whether they or anyone in their household went hunting the day before. Members of the hunting party, the prey type they were searching for, number and type of prey acquired, and sharing distributions were all recorded. Foraging effort, our dependent variable is conceptualized as the number of hunts of each type that occurred 106 B. A. Scelza et al.

on a sample day. In addition, because the number of sandplain hunts does not reflect well the total time allocated to sandplain hunting, and there is a strong correlation between the number of prey acquired and the total time spent hunting sandplain prey, we also construct a measure of hunting intensity for monitor lizards which sums the total number of prey acquired on that day. Bivariate and multivariate analyses are used to detect relationships between the frequency of different hunt types and both market and economic scarcity in the community. Pairwise correlations first detect relationships between the two scarcity variables (“days since loading” and “days since payday”) and the number of hunts that occurred of each type on a given day. Positive associations would depict more hunting of a certain type as scarcity increases. Next, Poisson regressions included both types of scarcity as predictors of hunt frequency while controlling for daily fluctuations in community size (number of households present). The impact of shopping patterns on hunting was evaluated using Poisson regressions. Again, five dependent variables were constructed (one for each hunt type plus the number of sandplain prey captured). The key predictor variables were the amount of money spent each day on meat and in total (gross shop totals). The number of households present was again included as a control variable. These quantitative statistics were contextual- ized using information collected during more than 48 months of fieldwork by the authors at Parnngurr and neighboring outstations between 2000 and 2012 when the authors lived with a Martu family and participated exten- sively in day-to-day life. This study was approved by the University of Washington Human Subjects Division and informed consent was obtained from all participants.

RESULTS

Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014 Between January and June 2006, foraged foods were acquired regularly at Parnngurr, and large quantities of meat were brought in over the 94 days on record (table 1), although foraging intensity varied considerably from day to day. As other studies on Martu hunting show, (e.g. Bliege Bird and Bird 2008) small game were captured much more frequently than larger game. Sandplain hunting occurred almost 7 times as often as either kangaroo or camel hunting during the focal time period (ﬁgure 1). There was a more than 90% success rate for hunting parties seeking sandplain prey (success = at least one capture for the party). Success rates for camel were also quite high (61.5%). On average, 22.8% of households had at least one member partici- pating in a hunt on a given day (Range 0-85.7%), and there were only 12 days out of 94 (12.8%) where no one in the community hunted. Meat from large game hunts can last for several days (or weeks if the acquiring family has a Bush Tucker, Shop Tucker 107

TABLE 1 All Hunted Meat Acquired in Parnngurr Community on 94 Logged Days (January– June 2006)

Small Large Goannaa lizards lizards Cat Bustard Kangaroo Camel

Total prey units 394 85 10 6b 42 7 8 captured Number of hunts 75 (90.7%) 30 8 6 70 (47.1%) 6c 13 (61.5%) (% successful) Average number of 3.32 (1,7) — — — 3.97 (1,9) 3.67 (2,5) 4.91 (3,9) adults per hunting party (min, max) Average number of — — — — 1.36 (1,3) 2.13 (1,4) 4.83 (4,6) households prey item is shared to (min, max)d Energy (kJ) per 578–1127 — — — 763 374 — 100 g edible portione

aGoanna were the type of monitor lizard hunted for most frequently. Together, goanna, small and large lizards and cats make up the common species included in “sandplain hunts.” Respondents would often list a hunt type as “goanna” even if it also included small and large lizards or cats. Therefore, it is difﬁcult to ascertain an accurate number of attempts made for these prey types, necessary to calculate the success rate. bThere were ﬁve adult cats captured and one hunt where two kittens were taken. The two kittens were counted here as equivalent to 1 adult cat for a total of 6. cKangaroo, particularly plains kangaroo tended to be taken opportunistically when Martu were driving to or from town. Since these were not formal hunts, a success rate could not be ascertained. dSmall prey are rarely shared outside of the hunting party so sharing data were only recorded for larger game. eEnergy calculations are taken from Miller, James and Maggiore (1993). The goanna kJ represent the range given for the genus Varanus as data on V. gouldii was not available; kJ for bustard are for cooked meat and kJ for kangaroo are for M. robustus, the smaller of the two species Martu acquire.

freezer) and is typically shared across households. Breadth of sharing corre- lates with size of the prey, with camel being shared most widely (table 1). Sharing of sandplain prey follows a different pattern, with primary distribu-

Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014 tion occurring between members of the hunting party and each hunter then sharing their portion with those in their household upon returning home, therefore inter-household sharing rates were not recorded here. Market purchases also varied considerably over the focal time period. The average daily gross sales in the shop were A$1054, ranging from A$157 to A$3540. The average distribution of food types purchased in the shop is shown in ﬁgure 2. The majority of money is spent within the general category of “grocery.” A large percent of money spent is also put toward cool drinks (soda and canned juice). The average amount of money spent on meat is A$127, but ranges from A$0 to A$455. Fruit and vegetables and water make up the smallest portions of purchases. There is no relationship between overall measures of hunting and shop purchases (Number of Hunts: r = 0.02, p = 0.89; Number of households 108 B. A. Scelza et al.

FIGURE 1 Boxplots showing the percent of gross expenditures across food types. Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014

FIGURE 2 Percent of days each hunt type occurred.

hunting: r = 0.01, p = 0.97). Similarly, there is no signiﬁcant association between the total number of hunts and either measure of scarcity, economic or market (table 2). Assessing each hunt type separately, both camel hunting and sandplain hunting are signiﬁcantly associated with scarcity, whereas kangaroo and bustard hunting are generally not (table 2). Whereas camel hunts are more likely to occur when the shop is depleted, the number of sandplain Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014

TABLE 2 Bivariate and Multivariate Associations between Hunting Frequency and Shop Scarcity

Sandplain hunts Sandplain hunts (no. hunts) (no. captured) Bustard Kangaroo Camel Total no. hunts

Pairwise correlations Days since loading 0.07 −0.10 −0.02 0.22 0.41∗∗ 0.17 Days since payday 0.15∗ 0.24∗ −0.23∗ −0.14 −0.10 −0.08 109 Poisson regressions Coef. (SE) Pseudo R2 0.0218 0.0492 0.0836 0.1030 0.2772 0.0430 Log likelihood −62.338 −235.756 −46.874 −12.504 −11.789 −76.641 Days since loading 0.0115 (0.014) −0.0102† (0.006) 0.0108 (0.019) 0.0670 (0.051) 0.1534∗ (0.066) 0.0198† (0.011) Days since payday 0.0433 (0.039) 0.0928∗∗∗ (0.016) −0.0690 (0.053) −0.1148 (0.149) 0.1351 (0.151) 0.0114 (0.030) No. households 0.0901 (0.067) 0.0609∗ (0.026) 0.0226∗ (0.096) −0.0144 (0.264) 0.0091 (0.287) 0.1229∗ (0.052)

Note. Standard errors are shown in parentheses. Sandplain hunts include goanna and other small and large lizards typically caught in this environment, often within the same hunting trip. †p < .1; ∗p < .05; ∗∗p < .01; ∗∗∗p < .001. 110 B. A. Scelza et al.

hunts and the number of lizards captured are associated with greater economic scarcity. How money is spent within the shop is also associated only with camel and monitor lizard hunting, but again with different ﬁndings for each prey type (table 3). Camel hunting is linked to less money spent on store-bought meat, while the number of lizards captured is associated with less money spent overall (gross returns). There is also an unpredicted positive association between monitor lizard returns and meat purchases. Once again kangaroo and bustard hunting are unresponsive to shop purchasing.

DISCUSSION

Overall we found no associations between total foraging effort and measures of accessibility of the shop patch, but strong associations when we con- sider high and low variance hunting activities separately. Camel and monitor lizards were both hunted more often when the shop patch was inaccessible, either though market or economic scarcity, while the higher variance hunt types, kangaroo and bustard, were unresponsive to shop conditions. Camel hunting is more likely on days when market scarcity is high, and on days when there are fewer purchases of meat in the shop, suggesting that a) camel is at least partially substitutable for purchased meat, and b) that declines in the quality of the shop patch are directly related to decisions about whether or not to hunt camel. Camel hunting has far higher return rates (21,079 kcal/hr; Bird et al. 2013) than other large bush meats, as it is relatively easy to acquire, has a low failure rate, and provides large quantities of edible meat. Using risk sensitive foraging theory, Codding and colleagues (2011) predicted that high return low variance prey could simultaneously satisfy social and offspring provisioning goals because they can sustain those in the household, while at the same time be shared more widely to a broader public. That there is an increase in time allocation to this type of hunting when the public is hungrier for meat (that is, when there is no alternative

Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014 meat in the store for others to purchase) is consistent with this model. That it is men who usually make decisions to hunt camel is also consistent with this model, and the high rate of inter-household sharing that is typical following camel hunts further supports the conclusion that this is a resource most desired when the community is running low on non-foraged meat, and beneﬁts for sharing widely in these circumstances draw some men toward the occasional camel hunt. Sandplain hunting responds strongly to economic scarcity, but not market scarcity, and seems to be substitutable not with meat, but with other types of purchased food. It is the most reliable hunting activity (Bliege Bird and Bird 2008). Success rates are high and variance in returns are relatively low, allowing more industrious hunters to capture more prey items on a given hunt, which means that hunters can vary foraging time according to Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014

TABLE 3 Poisson Regressions Showing the Association between Hunt Types and Shop Expenditures on a Given Day

Sanplain hunts Sandplain hunts (no. hunts) (no. captured) Bustard Kangaroo Camel Total no. hunts

Coef. (SE) Pseudo R2 0.0307 0.105 0.0108 0.1536 0.1237 0.0104 111 Log likelihood −42.566 −157.225 −50.085 −11.181 −17.434 −65.447 Gross ($A) −0.0003 (0.0004) −0.0006∗∗ (0.002) 0.0001 (0.0005) −0.0038 (0.0025) 0.0020† (0.0011) −0.0000 (0.0003) Meat purchases ($A) 0.0022 (0.0030) 0.0043∗∗ (0.0008) 0.0020 (0.0032) 0.0234 (0.0157) −0.0158∗ (0.0080) −0.0011 (0.0020) No. households present 0.0902 (0.8289) 0.1320∗∗∗ (0.0279) −0.0169 (0.7764) 0.0326 (0.1928) −0.1041 (0.1384) −0.0273 (0.2726)

daily caloric need. Unlike camel hunting, which is primarily a male activity, sandplain hunting is conducted primarily by females (Bliege Bird and Bird 2008). Martu women are often the heads of household in Parnngurr families, and are almost always responsible for the great majority of household responsibilities including food shopping and cooking. Women, particularly elder women, are also often responsible not only for their own children but for grandchildren or other dependent relatives they are fostering. As opposed to providing a direct substitution for a dearth of store-bought meat, as camel hunting seems to do, sandplain hunting provides staple foods that substitute for a broader range of food items that individuals can’t access when they run low on cash, such as flour and tinned goods, which are less likely to become depleted between loadings. This may also explain our unexpected result that sandplain hunting is positively associated with meat purchases. Families may be spending their cash on meat and using monitor lizards to substitute for other grocery items. Or alternatively, those left behind in the community know that if a group has gone out sandplain hunting, they’re less likely to get much meat to eat when they return, as the dinner camp group usually consumes it all. Indeed, women who go out sandplain hunting often purchase meat at the store in the morning to leave with their family left behind, who are unlikely to receive any lizards when the group returns. Taken together, this suggests that small game hunting is a critical strategy for meeting familial caloric needs, particularly when times are tough. High risk hunt types of either high or low returns are least likely to contribute toward offspring/household provisioning goals, and because of the stochastic nature of their success, are likely not sensitive to the number of hungry others. Rather, the provisioning of such resources supplies prestige or ritualistic benefits and should not be linked either to market scarcity or economic scarcity. Consistent with this model, we do not find any association between shop purchases and the two “high return high variance” resources, kangaroo and bustard. Our results also have implications for understanding shifts in Aboriginal diet, health and wellbeing with increasing market integration over the last Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014 fifty years (Smith and Smith 1999). Increasing reliance on poor quality purchased foods has led to startling increases in rates of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease in Aboriginal populations across the continent (Gracey 2000; Naughton, O’Dea, and Sinclair 1986; O’Dea 1985). Despite this transition, the continued inclusion of foraged foods in the diets of Aborigines has been repeatedly shown to have positive effects on health and wellbeing (Brand-Miller and Holt 1998; Naughton et al. 1986; O’Dea et al. 1991). Despite these striking results, the inclusion of foraged foods in public health studies of the Aboriginal diet are lacking. This is partly due to methodolog- ical limitations, which are focused on the “store turnover” method, a way of tracking how much and what types of foods are being consumed (Lee, O’Dea, and Mathews 1994; Lee et al. 1995). These methods typically do not Bush Tucker, Shop Tucker 113

account for non-market sources of food (Brimblecomb et al. 2006). Those studies that do mention foraged foods tend to lump all types together. Data from this study clearly show that not all hunted foods are viewed the same way. Some forms of hunting appear to occur irrespective of the availability of market-source foods, likely due to their socio-ecological significance, while the acquisition of others is more responsive to the availability of store- bought goods. This dual importance of social and nutritional factors in Martu dietary decisions could be utilized to foster increased foraging in these communities, and the promotion of healthy substitutions for store-bought foods. The social value of hunting increases the likelihood of its being a successful component of a dietary intervention program. In other areas, programs that aim to increase foraging have been implemented (Rowley et al. 2000; Gittelsohn et al. 2010) and are critical because they reflect community values and already existing ideologies about the healthfulness of traditional foods. Here, we suggest that a detailed knowledge of how the production and consumption of foraged foods varies would be an important component to such programs. For example, organizing community hunts that reflect current market conditions (e.g. more goanna hunts during the weeks between pay-days, and more camel hunts during periods when the shop is low on food) would build on already existing patterns and further the ability of individuals to incorporate more lean meat into their diets.

CONCLUSION

Foraging theory has proven successful in framing questions about resource use in a wide variety of settings, yet in order for it to remain relevant to contemporary studies of hunter-gatherer diets, data on the use of non-foraged foods need to be incorporated. The data presented here provide an initial step in this direction by comparing the production of hunted prey with the purchase of store-bought goods. The interplay of these two food sources

Downloaded by [171.67.216.23] at 12:56 17 January 2014 reﬂects a mosaic of nutrition, culture, and history inﬂuencing Martu food choices. Here we have focused on how characteristics of particular prey types such as their expected returns and their reliability make them differ- ently substitutable for store-bought goods. Camel, which is highly reliable, provides large amounts of meat, and is widely shared, provides an ideal substitute for store-bought meat, which is similarly easy to acquire and readily available, when the shop runs low. Monitor lizards, on the other hand, are viewed as a staple food and are relied upon for household provisioning, leading to an increase in sandplain hunting when families run low on cash and can not afford the goods that are in the shop. The imperviousness of market and economic scarcity on other traditional hunt types (namely kangaroo and bustard), illustrates the limits of substitutability between store- bought and foraged foods, both because they are not easily comparable to 114 B. A. Scelza et al.

foods available in the shop, and because they hold important cultural value and so are sought after for other than purely caloric needs. Together, these data help us to understand how foraging models operate in the variable and ever-changing environment that contemporary hunter-gatherers face.

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