WHICH WAY KAIKAI BLO UMI - FOOD AND NUTRITION IN THE TORRES STRAIT

The people of the Torres Strait suffer a disproportionate level of die t-related disease, especially diabetes. The Torres Strait Health Strat egy identified the difficulty in obtaining healthy food, particularly fruit and vegetables, as a major problem for people living in the Torr es Strait. This study examined traditional plant food supply systems a nd current local production of fruit and vegetables. The supply system of fruit and vegetables from mainland Australia was also examined. Tr aditional garden food production was seen to continue (mainly to provi de food for ceremonial occasions), but had declined because of easy ac cess to store foods, changes, in the physical, social and economic env ironment, limited access to land and water, and quarantine restriction s on movement of garden produce. Supplies of fruit and vegetables from the Australian mainland were infrequent and the prolonged transit tim e meant that produce was often in poor condition on arrival and prone to continued rapid deterioration due to limited store-level storage fa cilities. Demand for fresh produce exceeded supply.