Mō mātou
About Us
Our Kaupapa
OUR KAUPAPA is kai and everything to do with kai.
Kai, to us, means much more than food. It is a unique Māori way of living that is deeply grounded in our mātauranga and is part of a system of knowledge, values, practices and relationships that reinforces our collectivity and cultural identity.
Today we face big challenges in relation to kai. Issues related to kai sovereignty and security, socio-economic and health inequities, environmental degradation and climate change mean that many of our whānau do not always have enough kai.
Our goal is to undertake research and deliver projects that ultimately support whānau to have access to enough culturally appropriate, nourishing kai so they can thrive in whānau, practise manaakitanga and contribute to a healthy kai system.
Our Guiding Principles
The kūmara is a culturally important kai to Māori. It is significant both as a highly nutritious food and as a spiritual and physical link to our origins. Because the kaupapa of kai is a broad topic, we look to the kūmara and its lifecycle to help guide our thinking about kai and to model the transmission of knowledge into practice. From the kūmara we have identified five key concepts pertaining to kai that we will draw upon to help navigate our mahi in the kai space:
ŪKAIPŌ
Whakapapa and kaitiakitanga; our responsibility to protect not only the physical (whenua, wai etc.) but also the mātauranga that is attached to it.
KĀKANO/TUPU
Lifecycles and regeneration.
MAHINGA KAI
Traditional and contemporary kai systems and technology.
MANAAKITANGA
ORANGA
Health and wellness beyond just the physical nourishment of kai.
Our Logo
The kūmara plant and the 5 guiding principles above informed the development of the Ngā Āhuatanga o Te Kai logo.
The “u” shape of our logo symbolises both a kūmara pit and a bowl or ipu kai. This shape therefore represents the full life cycle of a kūmara from the whenua a-waho (land) where we nurture it, back into the whenua o-roto (placenta of a hapū māmā) where it nourishes the whānau.
There are two kōiri or koru patterns within the “u”. These represent the whānau who both tend to the whenua and kūmara and in-turn are nourished by the whenua and kūmara.
The colours also represent the various physical appearances of the kūmara. The deep purple represents the skin of the kūmara and the richness of the kai. The light green represents the new shoots of the kūmara plant, while the cream text represents the inside flesh of the kūmara.
IPU KAI
Kumara pit, bowl
KOIRI
Nuture, flourish
WHĀNAU
Matua, tamariki
KAI TIPU
Kai grown from
the ground
KUMARA SKIN
Deep purple
KUMARA SHOOTS
Light green
KUMARA FLESH
Cream
Partner Organisations
Ngā Āhuatanga o Te Kai was jointly created by Te Puna Ora o Mataatua and Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi.
Te Puna Ora o Mātaatua is a non-profit charitable organisation based in Whakatāne that provides integrated health, medical, social and employment services for whānau across the rohe of Mataatua/Eastern Bay of Plenty and beyond.
Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi is a wānanga (or indigenous tertiary education provider) committed to empowering to explore the depths of knowledge in Aotearoa, to enable us to re-enrich ourselves to know who we are, where we came from and claim our place in the future.
Both founding entities operate within their own respective kaupapa Māori frameworks and share a common vision to ultimately empower whānau to thrive. These qualities align with the values, principles and goals, which we at Ngā Āhuatanga o Te Kai, aspire to.
