mabu mabu

What does Mabu Mabu mean?

Mabu means ‘help yourself’. When all the families come together, we always have a banquet of food. Someone always says, “Mabu Mabu,” and everybody grabs a plate and helps themselves. I’m Merriam, which means I’m from Mer Island (the furthest out of all the other islands in Torres Strait). It’s from our language, which is Merriam Mer. But it’s combined with other languages as well, because we have many different dialects and different languages for different groups of islands.

Bringing Mabu Mabu to Melbourne—how did that happen?

I wanted to open something that could change people’s views and represent where I come from. We don’t hear much about island people, and we are the other flag that gets flown in Australia. I wanted to show people that Indigenous people have cuisine.

It was very interesting when I first opened up in Yarraville, and someone came to dine, and she said, “I didn’t know Indigenous people had cuisine.” I was like, “Well, we’ve got to eat, I guess.” It’s about sharing and showing we’re not that different. What is your earliest cooking memory?

I’m born and bred on the island. I grew up with a spear in my hand, getting fresh octopus in the morning. We caught our own fish down at the beach, and ate wongais (an islander fruit) straight off the trees.

We spent most of our days outside and would go home for dinner before dark. If