Breaking Bread Across Aotearoa

Over the last few weeks we've been busy breaking bread in every sense of the word. Bringing people together, sharing meals, feeding our diverse food communities, telling stories and creating meaningful connections over kai.

It’s been a while between newsletters but that’s no reflection on activity levels here at Eat New Zealand. In fact, quite the opposite! We’ve been working on lots of smaller projects at the same time, so finding the right time to update everyone has been a case of waiting for the stars to align.

So in this newsletter you can find more details about our work with the Marlborough District Council on a regional food strategy and hui. We’ve hosted a conversation with Andy Cato from Wild Farmed and Groove Armada as part of our Eat NZ Grains work, and acknowledged the importance of our whanaungatanga with Ngāi Tahu through Feast Matariki. Our Kaitaki have continued to drive change throughout the motu with awards, acknowledgments and food-fuelled activities.

It’s been wonderful, affirming and purposeful work designed to connect people to our land and ocean through our food. As a small not for profit organisation it can be hard to find the time to celebrate our successes so we’re going to do just that in a 12 days of Christmas wrap-up starting later this week.

I felt privileged to have had the opportunity to talk to one of our most innovative tourism thinkers GOOD Awaits, about how food systems meet tourism and what the future might look like if we can enable our visitors to get behind our food communities.* Tune in to the full episode here.

We know this is an extraordinarily busy time for everyone, from our farmers and fishers, through to our chefs and hospitality businesses. Unfortunately, it’s also a busy time for those involved in food insecurity and but those helping communities find their way to self-determination and food sovereignty are working hard on that as well.

Wishing you all some peace and downtime in the fast-paced run up to the end of the year.

Don't forget to lock in the date for next year's Eat New Zealand Hui on Monday 27th March 2023 in Tāmaki / Auckland.

#KnowYourFarmer #KnowYourFisher #EatNZGrains #GrowFoodCommunities #EatNZKaitaki @eat.newzealand

Ngā mihi,

Angela Clifford, CE Eat New Zealand.

In this newsletter...

• A Regenerative Tourism podcast episode you don't want to miss
• Marlborough Food Hui 2022
• Groove Armada's Andy Cato shares his support for #EatNZGrains
• Ngāi Tahu Hui-ā-iwi at the Arowhenua Marae in Temuka
• Kaitaki leading the way throughout the country

Marlborough Food Hui

We think it’s really important to see district and regional councils start to consider food strategies from a system size perspective, so we’re proud to be working with Marlborough District Council on theirs. Co-design is at the heart of any good strategy so they’ve begun with a hui inviting and encouraging a range of perspectives as participants consider everything from food security to food collectives and food experience. This idea is in the DNA of the national Eat New Zealand Hui so it’s exciting to see this model work at a regional level. Let us know if your region is ready for this! angela@eatnewzealand.nz

Andy Cato supports EatNZGrains

Last week we hosted an intimate event at Gatherings in Ōtautahi where we heard from inspirational farmer Andy Cato of Wild farmed in the UK (he's also half of Groove Armada). He shared his personal journey from musician to farmer, and his efforts to work on the grains system in the UK by reconnecting people with where their grains come from.

We talked about everything from finding a way for as many people as possible to be able to access food from biologically active farming systems to issues around land access, how healthy soil is directly related to healthy people and the importance of a grassroots, bottom-up movement to effect change. Andy mentioned the importance of resilience even when things do not go well and the need to support each other, whichever part of the food system we sit in when we have shared values and vision.

The small room was filled with bakers, chefs, scientists, farmers, change makers and Manaaki loaves. These loaves were baked by some of our best bakers using local grain, they were slow fermented and designed to raise the mana of the farmer, the baker and the eater.

Special thanks to Foundation for Arable Research and Fran Bailey (who is part of our Eat NZ fam) for making this happen.

And massive thanks to the humble, lovely Andy Cato for giving us his time to spread such joy and hope.

Show me more from the Andy Cato & #EatNZGrains event

Whanaungatanga with Ngāi Tahu

Over the weekend we acknowledged the importance of our whanaungatanga with Ngāi Tahu at their Hui-ā-Iwi at the Arowhenua Marae in Temuka. A small crew of us volunteered in the kitchen where friends were pulling together a hakari (feast) for thousands of people. The scale was extraordinary, and the provenance of every ingredient considered; an acknowledgement of the surrounding abundance of the natural world. On Saturday we joined forces with Base Food By Fire to create a lunch in our pop-up stall drawing on our storytelling from Feast Matariki, giving us a chance to reconnect with so many people.

Watch the highlights reel from Hui-ā-iwi

#EatNZKaitaki leading the way!

Our #EatNZKaitaki collective continue to pave new ways forward throughout the motu. Over the last few months over on the Eat New Zealand Instagram their task was to create an IG Reel that told the story of who they are, and why they are driven to do what they do. If you're looking for some hope, or to be inspired we highly recommend checking them out here. Here are a few more highlights from the last few months...

• Chef Jackson Mehlhopt from Tussock Hill competed in the San Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition in Sydney last month and took home the award for Connection in Gastronomy with his ability to highlight food waste and sustainability through the use of wapiti. More here.
• Palmerston North-based Food Technologist Mrinali (Milli) Kumar won the momentum student entrepreneur award for her cauliflower ice cream at the Kiwinet Research Commercialisation Awards last month. The award recognises a highly motivated university student who looks beyond the science and sees how their idea can change the world. Read the full article here.
• Our Murikhiku/Southland Kaitaki crew met together a few weeks ago to help forge plans to support the Southland Food story in Awarua / Bluff.
• Claire and Troy from Tora Collective joined forces with fellow Kaitaki Jannine and Hoon to serve sustainable kaimoana including crayfish, pāua and kina at Toast Martinborough last weekend at the Tora Ika Shack, for around 1000 people. See more here.
• Food Waste heroes Michal Garvey of Food Print and Wendy Zhou of Perfectly Imperfect have side-by-side exhibitions at the Switch Up: Sustainable Solutions exhibition at Motat in Auckland, on display until March 31st 2023. More info here.