The only absolute certainty in life is death. One day, Australia’s most beloved journalist, Ray Martin will die and as the 79-year-old reflects on the subject of death for the upcoming SBS documentary, , the television icon proposes what loved ones might say about his food choices during his wake.
“He ate whatever was put in front of him,” Martin tells SBS. “Most times, he enjoyed it and that’s the truth.”
Food is very much part of who we are.
During Martin’s life as an international journalist, he’s been offered a wide variety of foods by people across the globe, from sheep's eyes in Saudi Arabia to haggis in Scotland and bowls of rice in Banda Aceh, Indonesia following the deadly Boxing Day tsunami of 2004.
“Around 200,000 people were killed in Indonesia in that natural disaster,” Martin says. “Yet, on the ground, when the place had been wiped out, people were still offering us rice from their own bowls. People felt the need to give food, even though they were starving themselves. That was just human nature.”
Martin’s new three-part investigative series on the taboo topic of death helped the journalist to recognise the importance of food during life and thereafter.
“Food is part of us, as we are social creatures, and eating is part of our social life. Therefore food plays a strong role in our life and even in our death.”
When people talk about the life we’ve lived when we’re dead, it’s a given that they’ll also reflect on the food experiences they shared with us.
“At funerals, apart from saying ‘what a nice person he/she was’, or ‘what a bugger they were’, people will also say ‘he used to love his oysters’, or ‘he used to love a beer’. Invariably, we associate people with, not just what their political or religious beliefs were, but what they liked to eat. Food is very much part of who we are.”
Ray Martin's last supper
So who is Ray Martin, based on the food he’s eaten in his life (thus far)?
The journalist, who also appears on on SBS, says he’s got simple tastes. He was raised working class with an appreciation of Vegemite on toast and baked beans.
Ray's chicken tacos
Chicken tacos
Yet Martin’s journalistic career, which started in 1965, took him well beyond his roots. The five-time Gold Logie winner hosted The Midday Show, A Current Affair and 60 Minutes. He also visited over 100 countries, mostly for work, and interviewed global legends like Audrey Hepburn and Sir David Attenborough.
It therefore came as no surprise when Martin described his ‘last supper’ as a menu that captured the spirit of his humble Aussie upbringing and many adventurous career experiences.
“If it was my last chance [to eat before I died] and someone else was paying the bill, then I would probably step out of my simple tastes. I would have to go with NSW South Coast oysters, as they are the best in the world. I’d like a dozen of those before I went.
“I'd also have caviar, with the lot, plus of course vodka.”
Martin recalls having first tasted caviar while working as a New York-based correspondent for the ABC in the 1970s. His mission was to interview Ronnie Biggs – the great English train robber and most wanted man in the world at the time. Martin was flying to Brazil to interview the notorious character when he met a tobacco trader, seated next to him.
“He said to me, ‘Have you ever tried caviar and vodka?’ I said I hadn't. He got the stewardess to leave the bottle of vodka with us and we knocked it back with several hits of caviar. I got off the plane feeling extremely good and headed off to the exclusive interview with the great train robber, having been primed by the tobacco trader. It was the sort of colourful stuff you couldn't write if it weren't true.”
Martin chose a strong spicy veal stew as the main meal of his last supper. For dessert, he opted for apple pie and ice cream. “I've had a million fancy desserts in my life, and if given a choice, I’d go back to something as simple as apple pie and ice cream, which is a stock standard. I would also have to have a blizzardy cold VB beer – that would be my drink of choice [along with the vodka].”
Hopefully, Martin will have many years ahead of him to create more food memories that will influence his ‘last supper’ menu.
In the meantime, he wants all Australians to think about food, death and dying as they watch the documentary with curiosity and compassion.
“Food isn't just something you put in your mouth,” Martin says. “It's part of our culture and part of our life. It is so much more than what we eat or drink. It's who we associate with and our memories of life.”
Ray Martin: The Last Goodbye premieres on Wednesday 14 August at 8.30pm on SBS and . The three-part series continues weekly on Wednesdays at 8.30pm.
