Episode Details

What happens when a little girl collecting bush fruits in outback New South Wales, not knowing she was poor, just knowing she was rich in country, grows up to launch the first-ever Australian Native Food Festival and win the most prestigious trailblazer award in the industry? You get Sharon Winsor.

In this extraordinary conversation, Sharon joins Tawnya Bahr to tell her story with radical honesty: the stillbirth that cracked her open at 21, the domestic violence that nearly took her life, the government consultant who told her bush foods would "never belong on a plate in a restaurant," and the quiet, relentless determination that built Indigiearth into something far bigger than a food business.

This is an episode about food sovereignty, cultural responsibility, and what it actually means to give back not once a year during Reconciliation Week, but every single day.

Episode Highlights

[17:00] — "It has purely been built on the back of desperation": survival, healing, breaking cycles 

[29:00] — The government consultant who said bush foods would "never belong on a plate in a restaurant" 

[46:30] — The jar of bush fruits confiscated at school and reported to welfare as "dirty food" 

[51:00] — Grassroots vs. bandwagon: who really owns the native food space 

[55:30] — What respectful engagement with native ingredients actually looks like for chefs 

[1:14:00] — Building the Australian Native Food Festival: $22k personal debt, 10,000 attendees, $225k back to Aboriginal businesses 

[1:26:00] — Winning the inaugural Bill Granger Trailblazer of the Year — the car park, the big screen, the speech she can't remember 

[1:32:00] — The Australian Native Food Festival returns: 25–27 September at Carriageworks, with the First Nations Bush Food Alliance delivering the industry trade day

[1:35:00] — Quickfire round: lemon myrtle, quandongs, kangaroo, morning coffee on the veranda, and a horse that keeps her sane

Key Takeaways

On cultural responsibility over commerce: "Indigiearth is not a food business. It is so much more than that." Sharon built her brand not chasing profit but chasing healing — and the community that came with it.

On what respectful engagement actually looks like: "Native foods is more than just an ingredient. It connects us to country, to storylines, to trading with our tribal areas, our songlines, Mother Earth. It's so deeply embedded in who we are as Aboriginal people." Chefs and businesses who want to use native ingredients are welcome — but they need to do the work.

On the tokenism problem: Sharon has sat in high-end restaurants and asked a waiter where the native ingredient was — only to have the chef come out and admit they were out of it. "Guys, that's not okay. You're misrepresenting what our food is. You're bastardising the industry."

On Reconciliation Week: "Aboriginal people didn't start that. Why are we needing to be the ones doing the reconciling?" Sharon only works with organisations that do the work year-round, not just when it's on the calendar.

On backing herself when nobody else would: She went into the first Australian Native Food Festival knowing she couldn't cover all the costs. She covered the $22,000 deficit herself. "I had to back myself and I had to back the bigger vision."

On the rise of all of us: "It's not about the rise of one of us. It's about the rise of all of us."

About Sharon Winsor

Sharon Winsor is a Ngemba Weilwan woman, award-winning Indigenous chef, and the founder of Indigiearth — a native food business grounded in over 30 years of cultural