Land and sea may separate Australia from its South East Asian neighbour, Timor-Leste but a shared love of cooking with fire is what unites us.
In Australia, barbecuing is a way of life. In Timor-Leste, cooking food over a wood fire is life.
“We cook everything – bread, rice and meat – over the flame,” says chef Ceasar Gaio of the restaurant, located in Timor-Leste. “People cook on firewood on a daily basis. In the morning, in rural parts of Timor-Leste, families start their day by cooking porridge on the fire. If you travel outside of the capital, you will see smoke floating above the rooftops each morning.”
Gaio estimates that in Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, more than half of the population still uses firewood to cook their food on a fire. "Some families even have an extra [small room], built next to the main house that acts as a kitchen where they can cook food over a flame.”
In Timor-Leste, cooking with firewood has a very long history.
Ancient indigenous peoples used to cook over a fierce naked flame ‘in a cook pit’. Gaio tells SBS this method is still used today but with modern utensils. “Food was always cooked in the ‘ahi matan’ (‘eye of the fire’). We place three stones on angles to hold the pots and pans over the flame. And then we cook our food in the ‘eye of the fire’.”
Over time, due to the foreign influences on Timorese culture, locals started to expand their firey cooking methods, incorporating an Indonesian style of barbecuing into their repertoire.
According to Gaio, the most important food that gets cooked on a flame in Timor-Leste – whether it’s an outdoor fire pit or barbecue – is rice. “In the beginning, there was rice. So before we talk about meat, we have to talk about rice.”
Rice that’s packaged in a small woven parcel (typically made from coconut leaves) and cooked on the flame is called katupa.
Tukir naan bibi is a traditional Timorese dish featuring lamb that’s cooked over flames in a green bamboo trunk, served with mashed cassava. Source: Supplied by Dillicious Timor
It’s often paired with skewered lamb or goat grilled on the barbecue (sasate naan bibi), although fish skewers are common along the coast. Fish fillets wrapped in a banana leaf (ikan saboko) can also be presented alongside katupa.
Another dish that’s barbecued is tukir naan bibi: lamb that’s cooked in a green bamboo trunk, served with mashed cassava. However, Gaio says using green bamboo is not an everyday thing. “Cooking with bamboo is a method that’s survived colonisation. So it’s considered to be very special.”
Barbecues are an important feature of family gatherings in Timor-Leste. For example, every November, a day of note called ‘ni-rauwai nawa’ brings families together to barbecue. Gaio explains that the ritual combines a Portuguese Catholic ritual with a local pagan food tradition of sacrificing and barbecuing whole animals. “Since I was a child, we celebrated this day by cooking meat over the fire. The meat has always tasted delicious.”
During big family celebrations, meat is cooked on large palm leaves as they fit larger quantities of meat. “Locals cooked with palm leaves prior to the Portuguese arrival. That’s why cooking palm leaves on the fire is so important to us. The method has survived a very long time.”
Barbecues plates in Timor-Leste are not complete unless they’re served with a pickle called ‘budu ai-manas’. “We usually add lime juice, garlic and chilli to salt. The Timorese can’t survive without chilli.”
United by fire
The concept of cooking with firewood certainly has its benefits. “I love the taste of food when it’s flavoured with the smoke of the fire. There’s really nothing like it.”
In the West, top chefs have even been celebrated for cooking over an open fire even though populations living in countries like Timor-Leste have done so for a long time.
“People in advanced countries think installing a firewood kitchen is expensive. While in Timor-Leste and most parts of Asia, it’s a lot more affordable than cooking with gas. We are on opposite ends of the spectrum.”
Gaio also acknowledges the environmental and health impacts that burning wood could cause the people of Timor-Leste, given that the practice is so widespread. That’s why he has started to look for more sustainable alternatives to wood – like burning coconut husks. The concept is currently just an idea but it’s something he’s trying to explore.
“For now, firewood is the cheapest way to fuel a fire to cook a meal three times a day. More than 90 per cent of families in Timor-Leste have no other option than to use firewood to cook their food.”
Despite the cultural and socioeconomic differences between Australian and Timorese barbecues, Gaio remains hopeful that our common love of cooking with fire can help us to better understand each other.
“Cooking with firewood was the original method that all humans once used to cook food. So fire is inside all of us – from the older to the younger generations.
“It has a cultural significance in Timor-Leste but also for people of all cultures around the world. Cooking with fire is really special.”
Ceasar Gaio of restaurant, in Timor-Leste will soon visit Australia to cook a traditional Timorese barbecue at the . For more information, visit the
