Albert Namatjira's diet oscillated between two worlds: the rations distributed by the Lutheran mission at Hermannsburg (flour, tea, sugar, dried beef) and traditional Arrernte bush tucker, food gathered and hunted in the Central Australian desert. There was no formal Western-style meal structure: people ate what was available, often around a campfire, with damper baked in the ashes accompanying sweet morning tea, grilled game or roasted roots forming the main meal, and bush fruits or seeds serving as snacks throughout the day.

Roasted and ground wattle seeds are a fundamental ingredient of Arrernte bush tucker. Rich in protein and with a nutty, coffee-like flavor, they were ground between two flat stones to produce a nutritious flour. Namatjira grew up with these desert flavors, and the golden wattles populate his watercolors of the MacDonnell Ranges.