00:02Fresh, fun and fired up. Luke Burke is one of Australia's chefs to watch. The second
00:09ever indigenous chef to receive a good food hat, he is now head chef at Fellon Seafood
00:14in Manly, after working his way up in some of the most prestigious restaurants in Sydney.
00:20Working at one of the top restaurants under Neil Perry at Rockwell Bar & Grill was a huge
00:24stepping stone for us and pretty much put us up for success from the start.
00:30His love of food came from cooking with his family.
00:33Probably started from a young age in the kitchen with grandma and nana and having an older sister,
00:40she's two years older than us, she jumped in the kitchen first and me and my twin brother
00:44followed.
00:45But his formal training began with help from the National Indigenous Culinary Institute.
00:50Gave us the training and the tools to jump into the kitchen and then also the support.
00:57The Institute has been shaping indigenous chefs since 2012.
01:01The NICI was founded by leading industry chefs Neil Perry, Matt Moran, Luke Mangan, Guillem
01:06Brahimi, Jill Duplay, Terry Dirac and their concept was that there wasn't an Aboriginal people working
01:13in these restaurants and they wanted to do something to change that.
01:16This week, the 2026 class is officially graduating with 11 students earning their chef whites.
01:24It is a really good feeling just to have my hard work recognised by the people around me
01:29and by the organisation that helped me actually secure my job as well.
01:34They were celebrated with a long lunch designed by an alumni with support from ARIA's executive
01:40chef Tom Gorringe.
01:41They're braced kangaroo pies that I built up yesterday with a bit of wattle seed on the
01:50top of it.
01:51For the past decade, most of the graduates have been based on the eastern seaboard and
01:55there are now hopes to take the program national if they can attract more funding.
02:00It's a difficult financial environment for us as a not-for-profit to be able to do that.
02:04We do need more corporate support.
02:06We definitely need more government support.
02:08But the program is more than just culinary training.
02:11It's bringing the oldest living culture into world-class kitchens.
02:15It's kind of putting me on a plate in a different way than somebody else would put them on a
02:19plate, you know what I'm saying?
02:20Especially if they enjoy it, you know, it's a very good feeling.
02:22To keep that inspiration for Indigenous people to get in the kitchen, to learn and then also
02:28for me as an Indigenous person to pass on our culture and try and throw in that aspect
02:33of native foods is huge.
02:35Those qualified chefs going on to being more than just a chef in their restaurant as well,
02:40becoming leaders, becoming mentors for more apprentices coming behind them which is a really
02:44significant part of our program now.
02:46Indigenous chefs serving up success.
02:49authority here.
02:49These straight pessoa has speaks of sort of libertarian business or something that has become strong.
