I went to look at the oceanic diet
people that live off the ocean. And for this
I ended up going to Borneo.
Borneo is split into three countries
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia. I went to the Malaysian part.
This part here in Bodgaya Island.
So, I went and met with the Bajau.
About one million Bajau
split over all these countries I mentioned.
And they really live off what they find in the ocean.
Bit of refreshment to get you in the mood .
This is Tarumpit, you know, on his way to the office.
( audience laughter )
And, so they live on stilt houses mostly.
And it’s quite an incredible experience
walking into one of these house.
There’s the lapping, you know, sound of the water.
People sometime fish straight through the planks like this.
There’s water right below .
But the real hardcore Bajau.
They are called the “Bajau laut”, from the ocean.
They live in boats, handmade boats called lepa.
Lepa-lepa or lepa.
And this is their life. This is where they give birth,
this is where they cook,
this is where they do everything.
This is it.
They live inside there, they sleep in there,
they spend all their life in this.
Moving around, yeah, semi-nomadic, kind of.
They go around islands finding spot
where they hunt, they fish, they gather food.
And they cook in the back of the boat in this metal thing.
Fire straight on the boat, I wouldn’t do that.
But you know, it works.
They sometime cut out seaweed in small pieces
boil it in salty water and eat it.
There is a lot of collagen in it.
It’s really good for skin apparently.
And then when the tide gets low in the full moon period
they go and gather seashells etcetera.
They even find these little guys here.
Urchins. They collect a lot of urchins .
And eat the roe inside.
I love these kind of stories, of this kind of destination
nothing can be pre-arranged.
There’s no way to reach out to these people,
you just have to be lucky.
And so you are on the lookout all the time for stuff.
And so I am going around in the boat in the morning
and we see this guy.
Let me show you what he is doing.
With his hand he is going forward like this.
He’s got one foot out with just one fin.
And he’s scanning the bottom of the ocean looking for food.
And then soon enough he got an octopus.
And then you know, later on, he got stingrays and
a lot of effort is put into that again
four-five-six hours at sea
trying to get some food to bring back.
There’s a connection between the body
and the food that feeds it and fed the body.
And here again you see that.
You see the octopus is clinging onto him
and he’s got that close to him like that.
I was trying this was …
one thing I kept in mind on that story.
To really get that connection, that intimacy with food.
Food is something you eat that gets in your body
that makes you live, I mean it’s just incredibly
powerful thing when you think about it.
So, I meet with the brother from
the guy that was hunting with…
Put on his skinny jeans and he’s just so at ease in there.
– ( audience laughter ) – It’s just amazing.
And he got this little fish, this little bat fish there.
( speaking in Malay )
( speaking in Malay )
people that live off the ocean. And for this
I ended up going to Borneo.
Borneo is split into three countries
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia. I went to the Malaysian part.
This part here in Bodgaya Island.
So, I went and met with the Bajau.
About one million Bajau
split over all these countries I mentioned.
And they really live off what they find in the ocean.
Bit of refreshment to get you in the mood .
This is Tarumpit, you know, on his way to the office.
( audience laughter )
And, so they live on stilt houses mostly.
And it’s quite an incredible experience
walking into one of these house.
There’s the lapping, you know, sound of the water.
People sometime fish straight through the planks like this.
There’s water right below .
But the real hardcore Bajau.
They are called the “Bajau laut”, from the ocean.
They live in boats, handmade boats called lepa.
Lepa-lepa or lepa.
And this is their life. This is where they give birth,
this is where they cook,
this is where they do everything.
This is it.
They live inside there, they sleep in there,
they spend all their life in this.
Moving around, yeah, semi-nomadic, kind of.
They go around islands finding spot
where they hunt, they fish, they gather food.
And they cook in the back of the boat in this metal thing.
Fire straight on the boat, I wouldn’t do that.
But you know, it works.
They sometime cut out seaweed in small pieces
boil it in salty water and eat it.
There is a lot of collagen in it.
It’s really good for skin apparently.
And then when the tide gets low in the full moon period
they go and gather seashells etcetera.
They even find these little guys here.
Urchins. They collect a lot of urchins .
And eat the roe inside.
I love these kind of stories, of this kind of destination
nothing can be pre-arranged.
There’s no way to reach out to these people,
you just have to be lucky.
And so you are on the lookout all the time for stuff.
And so I am going around in the boat in the morning
and we see this guy.
Let me show you what he is doing.
With his hand he is going forward like this.
He’s got one foot out with just one fin.
And he’s scanning the bottom of the ocean looking for food.
And then soon enough he got an octopus.
And then you know, later on, he got stingrays and
a lot of effort is put into that again
four-five-six hours at sea
trying to get some food to bring back.
There’s a connection between the body
and the food that feeds it and fed the body.
And here again you see that.
You see the octopus is clinging onto him
and he’s got that close to him like that.
I was trying this was …
one thing I kept in mind on that story.
To really get that connection, that intimacy with food.
Food is something you eat that gets in your body
that makes you live, I mean it’s just incredibly
powerful thing when you think about it.
So, I meet with the brother from
the guy that was hunting with…
Put on his skinny jeans and he’s just so at ease in there.
– ( audience laughter ) – It’s just amazing.
And he got this little fish, this little bat fish there.
( speaking in Malay )
( speaking in Malay )
Please follow and like us: