Eat New Zealand
Kaitaki
The Eat New Zealand Kaitaki are an inter-connected collective of next-generation food leaders shaping the future of Aotearoa’s food system from the ground up. Launched in 2020, the Kaitaki span the entire food ecosystem - from regenerative farmers and fishers, seed savers, chefs, food scientists, food waste experts, health professionals, communicators and educators. They are storytellers working at the intersection of environment, people and culture - making food systems change within their own communities. Individually their work is powerful, but collectively they function as a connected, mycelial ecosystem - sharing knowledge, supporting each other and accelerating system-wide change.
They come from across the motu; with a geographic diversity of Ōhaeawai to Rakiura (Stewart Island), Ngāpuhi to Ngāi Tahu. Together, they represent a deeply rooted, place-based understanding of food.
Their stories are the embodiment of what makes Aotearoa unique. They are both the present and future of New Zealand food.
Scroll down to meet some of them:
Kate Underwood - Kaitaki Lead
KAITAKI — TĀMAKI MAKAURAU / AUCKLAND
Kate is a freelance food writer, Communications Specialist and Kaitaki Lead for Eat New Zealand, Restaurant Manager at award-winning Forest on Dominion Road, and co-creator of digital food journal Appetite for Words. Her work has featured in The Spinoff, Metro, Nourish Magazine, UNO and more. In 2024 she was named one of the Top 50 Most Inspiring Women in Food & Drink in New Zealand. With a background in human nutrition, Kate has built a career across food storytelling, communications and education - driven to share Aotearoa's rich, evolving food culture far and wide.
@_kate_underwood / @forest.akl / forestrestaurant.co.nz / LinkedIn / @appetite.for.words
Sophie Merkens
KAITAKI — Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland ~ Pākehā
Sophie Merkens is a writer, photographer, and recipe developer with a passion for gardening, foraging, and wild, local food. She’s the author and photographer behind Grow: Wāhine Finding Connection Through Food and Eat Wild: A Foraging Journey Across Aotearoa. She regularly writes columns for gardening and lifestyle magazines, photographs cookbooks, and collaborates with epic ethical brands, with a focus on connecting people, place, and ingredients through story.
Max Gordy
KAITAKI — Wellington / Te Whanganui-a-Tara ~ American
Max is an award-winning chef, forager, and co-owner of Graze Wine Bar in Pōneke Wellington. With two decades of cooking across Aotearoa, he has built a career rooted in a simple but powerful philosophy: eat local, waste less. Graze Wine Bar is a living expression of that ethos, its menu dedicated entirely to local New Zealand producers with an unwavering commitment to zero-waste cooking. Max is a passionate advocate for connecting people to their communities through delicious kai (food) that doesn't destroy the planet!
Alexandra Morrissey
KAITAKI — Pirinoa, South Wairarapa ~ Pākehā
Alex is a grower, co-founder, and mother behind Little Farms; a weekly farm box connecting Wairarapa growers and producers with their communities. She splits her time between tending her own market garden and supporting the network of farmers supplying Little Farms' boxes. A passionate food systems advocate, Alex hosts gardening workshops, collaborates with community groups, and speaks at events to champion growing and eating local. She coordinates the Young Organic Growers Alliance Aotearoa and serves as a Trustee of Where's the Food. She is a total force!