My father-in-law, Haare Williams (now in his 70′s),  grew up with his Maori grandparents, Rimaha and Wairemana, on the shores of Ohiwa Harbour near Whakatane, New Zealand. Here he recounts the food they ate, especially the kumara (please see my related post: “Kumara to KFC”). The back-breaking work, the use of the stars to guide planting and harvest times and the ingenious storage method – it’s a far cry from my quick drive to the vegetable shop to buy a few kumara for my roast beef!  Thank-you, Haare, for sharing your memories and treasured knowledge with us in this 3-part series.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Ko te kumara i a Rangi

Ko Pekehawani ka noho i a Rehua

Ko Ruhiterangi ka tau kei raro

Te ngahuru tikotiko i a Uru

Ko Poutu te rangi te matahi o te tau

Te Putunga o te hinu e

Tama”

(Excerpt from Ori ori from Te Aitanga a Mahaki tribe)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Of all the crops at hand to us at Karaka, the most valued was kumara. You see, kumara has a long whakapapa and apart from the story of Poutini, the green eye of pounamu, and later the movements of whales, kumara is a part of the epic journey of Maori across the Pacific to Aotearoa. Acknowledged in songs and whakapapa, kumara is traced to Maui Wharekino and Pani their mating seed they begat the essence of kumara.

The arrival in Aotearoa of two migratory birds, the shining cuckoo with its distinctive call, was celebrated with songs, prayers and tears of joy. The other was the long tail cuckoo. They too paved a pathway to this land and back again, guided by instinct and the prevailing currents.

The sacred seeds after all, were borne here on the backs of two giant birds, nga Manunui a Ruakapanga, across Te Moananui-a-Kiwa from Parinhuitera.

Rimaha and Wairemana each year scanned the skies for the appearance Te Aotahi and Takurua (Canopus and Rigel), sent a prayer to Rehua (Antares) and his two wives, Pekehawani and Ruhiterangi, guardians for the seasons of planting and for the harvest. They offered thanks to these deities as kaitiaki of kumara.

The planting season was marked with rituals, which ushered in the calls of spring and planting. Rimaha and Wairemana followed closely the seasons of the moon and awaited and read the appearance of Matariki (Pleiades) and Puanga (Rigel) in the sky. Their appearance indicated the beginning of the season for planting. Planting and harvesting were determined by appearances of lunar measures, which they understood and applied knowledge honed over centuries of observation and practice by their tipuna.

Planting, cultivating, and preserving food was an art with Rimaha and Wairemana. That isn’t surprising given that they, and their hapu came through a time where mere survival was an imperative following the legislative taking of their Tuhoe and Te Whakatohea lands. These matters surfaced often, a link to land grievances and the economic devastation of Tuhoe and Te Whakatohea whanau and hapu. In that frame, kumara was also a symbol of survival.

Gardens. Lots and lots of gardens. Extensive gardens for just three people, two of them elderly and the third, a kid.

Wairemana sat in the dust moving around on her hands and knees from one spot to the next, working from dawn to dusk. They seemed to live for those gardens and their annual yields of kumara, potatoes, kamokamo, watermelons and rock melons, sugar cane, maize, onions and tobacco. Puha seed was scattered around the perimeter of the gardens amongst the kamokamo. There was even greater responsibility to ensure the preservation of mauri (the life essence) in all things and the food planted and harvested.

The mauri was embodied in the seeds and in places where food was obtained. In these, the mauri of the land must be protected from abuse or over use and was applied by them not only to kumara but all other food bearing resources. It was a natural way of life for them.

Wairemana would remind me, “Kaua e tukinotia te whenua.” Do not take the land and its natural gifts for granted.

In the case of kumara, the part that was eaten was accepted for the body (tinana), but the mauri, that is its spiritual substance (wairua) needed protection through karakia and by being mindful of its importance to life. With such a noble lineage, no wonder kumara had a life of its own.

Back breaking work. A shovel was modified into a heavy hoe with the blade bent, and used to break down clumpy, lumpy turf into fine malleable soil.

Weeds. Everywhere weeds. Wairemana was especially attentive to her patch of watermelons and rock melons. She tended the gardens well and occasionally I helped with watering the tender shoots. She sang lullabies and fondled the plants as friends.

We lived close to nature’s lushness with the bush behind us and the sea in front. To one side there were the streams and extensive swamps with their seasonal offerings of kopururpuru, eels, weka, raupo and flax. On the other side the stretches of mudflats in the harbour, a constant source for flounders, herrings and the muddy titiko (periwinkles). Besides it provisions of medicines, the bush at the back yielded timber, kiekie and dyes, and as well the delicious harore, a fungus which grew best on rotted logs, teure a very sweet pine-apple shaped fruit found in the centres of the kiekie. Then there was pikopiko, the delicious curly fern fronds. Berries as well …

Kei runga

Kei runga ko Ranginui

Kei raro ko Papatuanuku

Kei mua ko te moana

Kei muri ko te ngahere

Kei tena taha

Ko nga awaawa

Kei tera taha

Ko te puna wai

Ko nga repo

Kei konei

Ko nga momo oranga

Katoa

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Part 2 of this series by Haare, recounting early experiences with traditional Maori food is to follow on another post soon …

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Related:

Maori Dictionary Online
Kumara to KFC – How Maori eating habits have changed
Kaipara Kumara

Digging around, I found these … some might interest you:

Fast food| junk food| bowel cancer … an alarming rise in bowel cancer, and a diet of too much meat and fast food may be to blame, cancer experts in the …

Cindy: Maybe it’s the sausages and chips, not the folic acid fortified bread that’s causing all the problems?

Big fat lies and damned statistics | Duncan Fine …  Labor MP who chaired the latest House of Representatives inquiry into obesity in Australia, called Weighing It Up: Obesity In Australia. He opens the report …

Cindy: Very funny and a good explanation of how having lots of muscle can put you in the ‘over-weight’ BMI category. But carrying too much fat, especially around your tummy, does cause health problems and even if he thinks there is no ‘obesity epidemic’, I’ve sure noticed a lot more ‘chubbies’ around.

Healthy Airplane Snacks – How to Choose or Pack Healthy Airplane Snacks

Cindy: Healthy airplane snacks? I haven’t seen any recently on NZ domestic flights. It’s usually lollies, salty crispy things and rich biscuits. Mind you, flights in NZ are relatively short so you don’t really need to eat. For long flights or for hungry kids I take Vita Wheat crackers, nuts and raisins, dried fruit, small cartons of fruit salad with a plastic spoon and some mints.

Successful Weight Loss With Dieting Is Linked To Vitamin D Levels… vitamin D levels in the body at the start of a low-calorie diet predict weight loss success, a new study found. The results, which suggest a possible role for vitamin D in weight loss, were presented at The Endocrine Society’s 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C …

Cindy: Every vitamin has its day – and in nutrition circles at the moment it’s vitamin D-day! So when the sun shines in between the clouds and rain, get outside to give yourself a dose of vitamin D. Us Kiwis really need it in the winter – especially those who have dark skin. And remember, you have to be outside – sun shining through glass won’t stimulate your skin to make vitamin D.

The more fast-food surrounds you – the higher your stroke risk: study | The National Business Review – New Zealand… risk of having a stroke is related to the number of fast-food restaurants near your residence according to a new study…

Cindy: Another cause and effect question. Are you more likely to eat fast food if there are lots around you or do fast food chains deliberately put more stores in areas where the people already like to eat fast food?

FT.com / Food & Drink – Carrots are the new caviar … deep in the website of El Bulli, Ferran Adrià’s legendary restaurant in Spain, is a revolutionary declaration: “All products have the same gastronomic value, regardless of their price…

Cindy: It’s great to see some top line restaurants elevating vegetables to star status. It’s every dietitian’s dream that we all eat – and enjoy eating – more veges!

Super-heroes move over – here comes the potato! No more Mr Humble Potato. He now has his own World Potato Congress. And at the 7th congress in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March he had renowned food writers and even politicians calling him a food hero. Why?

• Potatoes are nutritious
• Potatoes are cheap
• Potatoes taste good and are incredibly versatile – think baked, boiled, mashed, scalloped and gnocchi (like pasta but it’s potato).
• Potatoes need little water to grow. One kilo of potatoes needs 75 litres, a kilo of wheat needs 500 litres and a kilo of rice needs 3000 litres of water to grow. If you are into saving the world’s water, choose potatoes!
• Potatoes are easy to grow. The Maori people know all about this. When Europeans brought the potato to New Zealand, life became sweet. No more toiling over the sensitive, tropical kumara that struggled in our cold, wet Kiwi climate. Potatoes were tough and hardy, and quickly became a staple food.

I’ve just got one little problem with potatoes. It’s when they are sliced really thin (or worse, crinkle cut, where there is more surface area) and deep fried in fat. Don’t kid yourself that a feed of fries is a great vegetable meal; there’s more fat than vegetable in there.

Now that he’s been elevated to food hero status, I think even Mr Humble Potato would only want to be associated with the more gourmet thick chunky chip – preferably ‘lightly fried in a heart-healthy oil’. Ah – that sounds so much better!

You may have seen the movie “Once Were Warriors”. Well the Maori people were not just warriors they also ‘once were gardeners’! Before the Europeans arrived they worked hard cultivating kumara – a delicious purple root vegetable with sweet golden flesh. Kumara was their main carbohydrate source, along with ferns, kanga wai (fermented corn) and other native plants. They had a diet high in protein from birds and fish, low in fat and low in carbohydrate. This was especially so over summer when the last year’s kumara stores ran low and the people had little to eat. Everyone would hang out for Potuterangi – the star that appeared in March and told them that they could eat the first kumara.

In less than 100 years we’ve gone from gardening to driving, and from kumara to KFC! It’s no wonder that our Maori people die younger than Europeans and even our children are getting Type 2 diabetes – once only seen in older people. All those cheap chips, pies, fried bread and fatty meat is the exact opposite of what the Maori of a few generations ago ate. This food flip has happened in many people but it is especially tragic to see the drastic change in health of a once lean, muscular, fit people in such a short time.

The colonising of New Zealand, as in all countries, brought good and bad. The bad was the decimation of Maori land, mana, wealth, and subsequently health. Many Maori still carry the hurt of the injustices of the past and, like any emotional wound, it often affects physical health and habits. How do we get past this?  Acknowledge what’s happened. If you are European, ask Maori for forgiveness on behalf of the earlier generations. If you are Maori, forgive. This breaks the bonds that tie you to past hurts so you are free to move forward. Then together, as Kiwis, we can restore health – not just through nutrition knowledge but also through re-building confidence and self esteem.

“A heart at peace gives life to the body”

Related post: Recollections of Maori food