Among the Aboriginal peoples of southeastern Australia, there is no starter-main-dessert division. Food follows the seasonal calendar: roots are dug along creek banks, fish and eels are taken from the waters, cooking is done on embers or in a ground oven dug in the soil, seeds are ground on stones to make portable seedcakes, and sweet drinks are drawn from flower nectar. Everything revolves around fire and waterholes—the very billabongs and lakes that the Bunyip is said to haunt. Recipes presented with respect, inspired by living traditions and documented accounts, without reproducing any sacred ritual.

The emblematic technique of Bunyip country: the Gunditjmara of Victoria trapped eels in stone channels (Budj Bim) then slowly smoked them in the hollow trunk of an old tree. A gentle, long smoke that transforms the fatty flesh into a dense, salty, deeply umami reserve—the taste signature of the monster's waters.