Kai Aotearoa: Critical Food Studies in Aotearoa New Zealand
A series covering all aspects of food in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Seminar 1: 6 September 2023
Kapa Kaiota: Intersectional Vegan Studies in Aotearoa New Zealand
Presenter: Professor Annie Potts, Co-Director of the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies
For students and researchers of human-animal relationships, the words ‘vegan’ and ‘veganism’ have begun to function not only as the descriptors of a practice – a way of living and being in the world – but also as critical terms. In this regard, ‘vegan’ and ‘veganism’ refer to a particular kind of conceptual approach, one characterised by an ethical and political commitment to the identification, analysis and rejection – as far as possible – of the ideologies that justify and enable the exploitation of nonhuman animals. In addition, veganism, both as a practice and a critical method, increasingly tends to combine with ‘intersectional’ forms of thinking, which aim to recognize the ways in which human-animal relations are intricately linked with the politics of race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, class, and physical ability and disability. This presentation will introduce key theories of veganism, placing particular emphasis on new critical thinking emerging from Intersectional Vegan Studies. Special attention will also be paid to representations of meat and its consumption (as well as meat and dairy refusal and veganism) – phenomena that should be central to any thoroughgoing understanding of food futures, both in Aotearoa and around the world.
Annie Potts is Professor of Critical Animal Studies and Co-Director of the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha/University of Canterbury. She has a background in critical psychology, sexuality and gender studies, cultural studies and Critical Animal Studies. Annie is the author of The Science/Fiction of Sex: Feminist Deconstruction and the Vocabularies of Heterosex (Routledge, 2002) and Chicken (Reaktion Animal Series, 2012) and co-author (with Philip Armstrong and Deidre Brown) of A New Zealand Book of Beasts: Animals in our Culture, History and Everyday Life (AUP, 2013) and (with Donelle Gadenne) of Animals in Emergencies: Learning from the Christchurch Earthquakes (CUP, 2014), and editor of Meat Culture (Brill, 2016). She is currently completing a book for Sydney University’s Animal Politics series on the cultural and political histories of possums, from the Americas to Oceania. Annie has published on carnism, and its opposite veganism, in a number of academic domains.
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Seminar 2: 13 September 2023
Food Insecurity in a Time of Plenty
Presenter: Dr Rebekah Graham
Food insecurity is a complex issue affecting increasing numbers of families who live in Aotearoa New Zealand. Despite being a high-quality food-producing nation, nearly a third of New Zealand households say they face moderate food insecurity, experiencing uncertainty about whether they'll have enough food, or choosing cheaper, often nutritionally poor items. Approximately seven percent of households sometimes run out of food on a regular basis. This issue demands urgent attention from scholars and activists alike. In this lecture, Dr Graham will highlight the realities of food insecurity in everyday life and the associated issues faced by vulnerable communities, the need for transformative action, and how progressive policies can make a difference.
Drawing on literature from the field of community psychology and social practice, Dr Graham will note the underlying factors contributing to food insecurity in Aotearoa, which includes the impact of our colonial history, socio-economic disparities, and inadequate access to culturally appropriate and nutritious foods. Alongside this Dr Graham will also cover the importance of local knowledge, community-based initiatives, and culturally relevant food systems in addressing food insecurity.
Dr Rebekah Graham (Pākehā) is based in the Waikato region of Aotearoa New Zealand. Rebekah is a registered community psychologist and is the National Executive Officer for Parents of Vision Impaired NZ, a consumer group with Blind Low Vision NZ. In this role, Rebekah advocates strongly and consistently for inclusion, accessibility and support for all, with a focus on parents/whānau of a vision impaired child. Alongside this, Dr Graham has continued with her academic work in the area of poverty, health and disability, and food insecurity. In particular, her work focuses on the ways in which inequities of access to resources play out in the everyday lives of New Zealanders.
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Seminar 3: 20 September 2023
Mātauranga Kai
Presenters: Associate Professor Lisa Te Morenga, Joe Mcleod, Asher Regan
The “Mātauranga Kai” project aims to gather pūrākau (stories) about kai Māori (food), from elders knowledge holders who grew up in provincial towns in Te Tai Tokerau, Taranaki,Tairawhiti and Te Tauihu rohe. From these pūrākau we hope to find new ways to inspire rangatahi (youth) and pakeke (adults) about healthier and more sustainable ways of eating that connect us back to the traditional Māori world. The panel also discusses the state of Māori kai in Aotearoa at the moment and the role of Māori chefs in promoting and safeguarding it.
Lisa Te Morenga is a nutrition and Māori health researcher with the Research Centre for Hauora and Health at Massey University Wellington, a principal investigator with the Riddet Centre of Research Excellence and a Rutherford Discovery Fellow. Her current programme of research investigates Māori identity foods, their impact and the potential to leverage traditional knowledge on kai to improve Māori community wellbeing. She is also working on community-centre projects to improve health services and health outcomes for Māori whanau in the fields of pain, cancer and rangatahi wellbeing.
Joe McLeod has been working in the hospitality industry since 1972 cooking in kitchens such as the Ritz in London, including preparing dinners for high end diplomats, royal families, and heads of states. He has a passion for enhancing, preserving and promoting traditional Indigenous culinary culture. His focus lies on bringing his people back to their roots. The priority now is to reconnect Māori old food knowledge to the marae to educate and reconnect these tribal groups with their traditional cuisine. Joe is celebrating the gifts that have been handed down by his elders so that it may never be lost.
Asher Regan is a PhD candidate at Massey University. His research focuses on how Māori chefs are influencing the discourses around kai in Aotearoa and the ways in which these discourses contribute to the well-being of Māori. Raised and still at home in Te Aro, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Asher enjoyed food and set about forging a career in food during high school, initially washing dishes in restaurants, followed by training, and working as a chef in Aotearoa and abroad. He returned to study and gained an MA in human nutrition at the University of Otago after which he was able to combine his food skills and knowledge producing food skill resources for the Heart Foundation.
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Seminar 4: 27 September 2023
“May I have seconds?” - A Toheroa Tale
Presenter: Jacs Forde
Toheroa, an endemic surf clam, was one of Aotearoa’s first marine exports. In 1921 its popularity exploded when the Prince of Wales broke royal protocol by asking for a second helping of toheroa soup, following which, every notable eatery in Aotearoa aspired to having toheroa soup on their menu. After decades of over harvesting, the mighty but sweet toheroa, has not recovered to its once abundant numbers despite a harvesting ban imposed in the 1970s. This talk will discuss the implications of overharvesting a Rangatira species for commercial purposes and the impact its decline and poor management has had on coastal Māori communities who have had and continue to have close relational ties to this cultural keystone species.
Jacinta ‘Jacs’ Forde is Lecturer in Anthropology at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington. She is a Pacific anthropologist whose research focuses on the Pacific and Aotearoa. Jacs has looked at the change in culture and its impact on health in Tonga and her PhD research focuses on the relationship Māori have with the moana, specifically the management and significance of the endemic shellfish, toheroa.
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Seminar 5: 4 October 2023
Food Studies in Aotearoa
Presenters: Dr Carolyn Morris, Dr Amir Sayadabdi, Fiona Rogge
This panel examines the state of the rapidly growing descipline of Critical Food Studies in Aotearoa New Zealand from the perspective of three scholars in different stages of their careers. The panel draws attention to some of the gaps in the research being undertaken, reviews some of the current challenges and opportunities within the discpline, and explores potentials for future direction in research and pedagogy.
Carolyn Morris
Carolyn Morris’s research and teaching interests are in cultures of agriculture and the politics of food. She has interests in ethnicity, gender, rurality and race relations. Her current research interests are focused on the making of markets, in particular for Maori potatoes, heritage potatoes in Ireland and sheep milk. She is also interested in the processes of food innovation.
Amir Sayadabdi is Lecturer in Anthropology at Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington. He is mainly interested in anthropology of food and its intersection with gender studies, migration studies, and studies of race, ethnicity, and nationalism. He is also interested in cultural history of food and the ways in which food and foodways have influenced, changed, and/or informed political and economic structures, institutions, and social pressures in the past.
Fiona Rogge is a third year undergraduate at Te Herenga Waka studying towards a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Political Science, and aims to continue with anthropology of food in future study. She is interested in the intersection of food studies with migration, colonialism, conflict, and climate change, and the ways in which social and environmental movements shape societies’ food and foodways. Fiona is also drawn to Food Studies in the context of Aotearoa, and the gaps in academia concerning Indigenous and queer food epistemologies.
The seminar series was closed by Provost, Professor Bryony James.