Name
Steve Sunk OAM
The 'Walkabout Chef'
Food is a language that all people understand, regardless of whether it’s Indigenous bush tucker or Sri Lankan cuisine. 
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Name
Food is a language that all people understand, regardless of whether it’s Indigenous bush tucker or Sri Lankan cuisine.
My mother is Spanish and my father was Yugoslavian, but they actually met in Scotland after my father moved there as a special migrant because of the war. It’s actually where I was born – I moved to Australia when I was 2.
I’ve been lucky to have had the opportunity to go to Sri Lanka to work with people there and to work with my own Indigenous people in the Northern Territory. It opened my eyes to the different cultures and the fact we need to be respectful of the other ways in which people live.
Food is a language that all people understand, regardless of whether it’s Indigenous bush tucker or Sri Lankan cuisine. Darwin is truly a multicultural city and what brings us together is breaking bread – we eat, talk and work things out, and after the meal we have earned each other’s respect.
At the university I work at, Charles Darwin University in Palmerston, we have an A Taste of Harmony lunch nearly every day. We have people from all over the world working here – India, Hungary, you name it – and we all have a big yarn on how to save the world.
Having people get together, talk and share beautiful food gives people a warm feeling and makes them feel good. People need more of a sense of community these days, and taking the time to have a good meal and get to know each other is so important.