Cooking up some unique culinary delights based around native Australian food — while also promoting the good work of Orange’s food rescue service — is the aim of a special Colour City event being held late next week.

Following the success of last year’s inaugural cook-up, local Indigenous leader Gerald Power is holding a Black Friday Bush Tucka Barbecue at FoodCare’s March Street store.

The free lunchtime feast is a way of introducing Gerald’s Aboriginal-themed cuisine to locals and highlighting the range of discounted foods now available at the local food bank service.

“I’ll be cooking-up some bush tucker food, kangaroo and crocodile, just like last year,” Gerald told 'Orange City Life'.

“I’ll also be doing a bit of bush tucker ice-cream with quandong and Davidson plum, as just a bit of a sweetener to follow,” he added.

The barbecue follows the unexpected triumph of the 2025 event, he recalled.

“The first event was only a trial, really, to see if it could work.

“In the end though it was a screaming success, lots of people turned up, and we ran out of food,” he recalled.

Gerald is owner and founder of Indigenous Cultural Adventures Cultural Tours & Bush Tucka, and founded the business, he said, with a vision of sharing the culture and heritage of the First Nations peoples: “Through the experience of country and food that they have consumed and survived on for 50,000 years”.

Promoting the work of FoodCare he believes, not only dovetails well with his business model, but also his work as a councillor for Orange city.

“It brings a lot of people up to the FoodCare store; it’s wildly important that more people are aware of it and the work they do; the donations they receive from not just supermarkets, but also farmers and the community.

“We, as a council, also think it’s vital that we know how people are going, and we all know there are a lot of people now sleeping rough in the city.”

In this regard, local government is now looking to provide more appropriate housing for the city’s increasing homeless population, at least one member of whom, he said, has been a victim of a random assault.

“We’re looking at putting up a designated place in town to provide an opportunity for people to be safe, probably at the showground,” Gerald said.

“It’s a matter of getting a plan organised, taking it to the chamber, and providing something for people sleeping rough,” he concluded.

Gerald’s “Black Friday Bush Tucka BBQ” is on Friday, February 13, at FoodCare 142 March Street, from 12 noon–1.30pm with customers, volunteers, donors, service providers, staff, and carers invited to attend.

The menu includes kangaroo kofta, lemon myrtle greek yoghurt, johnny cakes, “Make it Snappy” crocodile sausages, Warragal Green River mint coleslaw, sweet chilli bush tomato relish, ice cream, Davidson plum, finger lime, and quandong.