This winter, from 19th to 27th June, we’re celebrating Kai Hau Kai as our inspiration for Feast Matariki. For Ngāi Tahu, it was originally a way and place that people came together around food, celebrated abundance, feasted and traded excess. One of the features of these gatherings was a hakari or a stage upon which food was placed to emphasise abundance. So in 2024, with Tīrama Mai, we’re going to recreate the stage at Te Matatiki Toi Ora / The Christchurch Arts Centre. It will be the focus for events there including The Hakari | Feast, The Shortest Hīkoi and our version of Kai Hau Kai. We’re proud that our Ōtautahi events are led by Kaitaki Ngāio Cowell (Ngaati Te Ata Waiohua, Waikato Tainui, Ngāti Porou) and Reese Harrison (Ngāi Tahu). Beyond Ōtautahi Christchurch, nationally we’re encouraging everyone to think about how food can be shared to ensure we all have enough, and about how reconnection and joy can be found in that sharing. What are some of the ways we enjoy food without having money? What can we find, grow, and exchange skills and time for? How do we value relational wealth compared to other forms of wealth? So nationally we’re launching Our Kai Stories, encouraging our tamariki and rangatahi, our young people, to share their kai stories about their culture and food ways. And in the middle of Feast Matariki and winter we’re going to be celebrating The Shortest Meal on the shortest day of the year, June 21st. We’re inviting you to create a meal as well, lighting up our local food systems in times of darkness. When we collect together and imagine a better place, we drive away despair and re-energise ourselves. We know there is a better way forward and we are going to celebrate it. Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi With your food basket and my food basket,
we will thrive Angela Clifford, CE Eat New Zealand.
@eat.newzealand
#KnowYourFarmer #KnowYourFisher #EatNZGrains #GrowFoodCommunities #EatNZKaitaki #RepurposeTheSurplus #Biodiversity #FeastMatariki #TheShortestMeal #KaiHauKai | 
