Most of us wouldn't be able to name a single dish from Torres Strait Islander cooking. North Queensland woman Evelyn Billy is trying to change that, one meal at a time -- and she's promoting reconciliation along the way.
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00:00 At a small indigenous school, two Cape York boys are getting a lesson in traditional cooking.
00:07 Some of them just come and just watch you cook and it excites them because that's what
00:14 they do back home.
00:15 Evelyn Billy is a Torres Strait and Aboriginal woman and she's on a mission to keep her culture
00:20 alive through its cuisine. She was inspired by a visit to a shopping centre food court
00:26 in Townsville.
00:27 I stood then in that eatery, we had every culture except ours. I'm thinking to myself,
00:34 where's mine?
00:35 She now runs food trucks and a restaurant serving Torres Strait Island fare. But it's
00:40 about more than satisfying hunger.
00:42 So when you sit and eat, you start yawning, then you ask one another, yeah, where's this
00:49 from? Conversation starts, then it just turns into like a cultural class.
00:57 With a bounty of ingredients from the sea and pearl divers from Japan, the Philippines,
01:01 Malaysia and Sri Lanka, modern Torres Strait Island cuisine is a testament to the history
01:07 and inventive nature of its people.
01:09 We had customers rock up and, "Is this ready? Is the vermicelli chicken ready?" A lot of
01:14 non-Indigenous, they come up and ask and it's just great to see that they're coming back
01:19 for more.
01:21 When I cook and I give it to a non-Indigenous person, I'm actioning my forgiveness. It's
01:28 okay. What's done is done.
01:31 Reconciliation, one plate at a time.
01:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]