Clip description
Each year in the Torres Strait Islands, the Coming of the Light Festival is remembered with religious services and with feasting. And the food for the feasts is always island food from island produce.
Curator’s notes
This clip shows SBS reporter Joanna Savill on Erub Island in the Torres Strait. She appears with Bill, a Torres Strait Islander who is introduced in the voice-over as the chief cook, overseeing and making preparations for a feast to be cooked in a kup murri, or ground oven.
A great deal of detail is given showing the making of the kup murri which extends the familiar cooking show into something more akin to a cultural program. This is the strength of the clip; it’s not just about cooking but also about the cultural practices of Indigenous Australians and our social history.