The Sentinelese are famously hostile toward outsiders. Would they drink from a strange can that appeared on the beach? Would they know that it is a drink, or even how to open it? These are things we know because we grew up with the concept of canned soda. But even with that knowledge, I sure as hell wouldn’t drink from a random soda can I found sitting on a beach. I find it hard to imagine that the Sentinelese, who shoot arrows at anyone they see approaching their island, would interpret a random can as a sign of goodwill (let alone as something they’re supposed to ingest.)

They may assume it’s a weapon, or some kind of cursed item. If they do something to agitate it, like shooting an arrow or throwing a rock, they’d probably be terrified by the exploding carbonation - which could reinforce the idea of it being a weapon or something demonic.

When some members of the Pintupi tribe in Australia heard rumours of several “lost” brethren in the outback, separated for decades since the tribe’s forced removal to clear an area for missile testing, and wanted to re-establish relations with them (consensually, without the force typically imposed on them in the past), the one opening gift they immediately thought of?

Sugar. Mind-blowingly sweet sugar.

McMahon did not want to put the group under any pressure to join the community, but he witnessed the moment they were persuaded. “It was unthinkable that they would stay out there because the modern world was so seductive. One of the fellows suggested, ‘Give them a taste of the sugar and they’ll be in for sure.’”

Indeed, the taste of sugar had a big impact on the Pintupi Nine and it is this aspect of their story which now animates them most. “I tasted the sugar, we didn’t know what it was, but it was so sweet. I tasted the sugar and it tasted so sweet - like the Kulun Kulun flower. My mother tasted it and it was so sweet. It was good,” says Warlimpirrnga.

Source: The day the Pintupi Nine entered the modern world