Cool Drink and Culture: Witchety grubs are healthy

The young women speak about getting bush tucker, water and bush medicine to make the children healthy. They talk about how the old people once showed them, and they now show the children. There is a definite message here that for the children to be healthy, more of the old ways must be kept in practice.

Cool Drink and Culture synopsis

A documentary that features young Indigenous women speaking about the effects of unhealthy food upon the children.

Cool Drink and Culture is part of the Nganampa Anwernekenhe series produced by Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) Productions. Nganampa Anwernekenhe means 'ours’ in the Pitjantjatjara and Arrernte lanuages, and the series aims to contribute to the preservation of Indigenous languages and cultures.

Cool Drink and Culture curator's notes

The interesting thing about Cool Drink and Culture is that the subjects speaking about the need for a healthy lifestyle – that includes plenty of bush tucker, the passing on of skills on how to hunt and prepare it to the younger generations – are quite young themselves. What the young women speak about is usually presented through elders, but the dynamic here is that young women are taking on this role in their community. Cool Drink and Culture is an empowering film for young Indigenous women, who have a clear understanding of what is needed if the children are to live a life with minimal sickness and maximum health.

Notes by Romaine Moreton