In order to fight food insecurities in under-privileged communities, South Auckland business owners and researchers are calling for food that is not only healthy, but culturally relevant and desirable
Fast food happened fast.
The golden arches were first sighted in Porirua in 1976. Just 20 years later, there were 100 McDonald’s restaurants in the country. Nowadays, fast food restaurants are an omnipresent feature of the landscape of urban New Zealand.
Kiwis flocked to the cities in the latter half of the 20th century, and as we moved, so too did the source of our lunch and dinner.
New Zealand has the third-highest adult obesity rate in the OECD, and rates continue to increase - yet in many of New Zealand’s most socially disadvantaged suburbs, fast food and other unhealthy options are often the only pick on the menu.
Children living in deprived neighbourhoods are almost three times as likely to be obese compared to those living in more affluent areas, according to the New Zealand Health Survey.
The Government has taken a broad approach, focusing on messages of nutrition and increased physical activity.
But researchers from Auckland University of Technology say the answer lies in building food havens - places with food that is culturally accessible, affordable and desirable, found on a family, community or local business level.
"... Healthy eating campaigns that ignore the cultural meaning of food may miss their target audience, and there should be more focus on promoting healthy food that people in communities over-represented in obesity feel connected to."
The need for food havens first occurred to public health researcher Dr Radilaite Cammock when she was trying to find groceries for her kids in her South Auckland neighbourhood.
“The idea came to mind when trying to find a healthy market to give my kids’ food,” she said. “I couldn’t find anywhere good close to where I live.”
Cammock says change needs to come from empowering communities rather than expecting the big corporations to do a sudden U-turn on providing healthy food.
“If you look to the big food organisations to change, you miss some great stuff that can change in the community,” she said. “We’ve spoken to young entrepreneurs who are trying to sell healthy food with a cultural connection.”
In South Auckland, enterprises like Papatoetoe Food Hub and Ōtara Kai Village have been providing healthy and affordable kai with a focus on culture and community.
Developed by the Southern Initiative, Papatoetoe Food Hub wants to build supply and demand for good food in South Auckland.
Since July 2019, they’ve repurposed around 300kg of unused produce a week - some from Papatuanuku Marae and Pukekohe farmers - but mainly from the New World across the road.
Bin says they may be the only business in New Zealand based on rescuing food.
“It’s a whole cycle. Our food waste goes into compost, which we then use in planter boxes where we grow our own food. We’ve been composting about 100kg a week.”
They hope to be part of shifting South Auckland’s dependency on fast food.
“There’s been a bit of a move from the fast food mentality to appreciating where food comes from,” Bin said.
He thinks Covid has something to do with it.
“During the lockdown, the supermarket was the only place to get food,” he said. “You had to think about what you could do with what you had.”
While the Food Hub’s operation was constrained by lockdown restrictions, it may have also made them a more important part of the community.
“Covid was a shock for everyone,” Bin said. “But now there’s more of a conscious decision to be more food resilient.”
Candice Luke works at food charity Ōtara Kai Village, and is also the lead kaitiaki for Pātaka Kai - a network of more than 100 food pantries across New Zealand for people to take what they need and leave what they can.
She said the initiative hopes to reduce the barriers to a good meal for those in need.
“One reason families in need weren’t accessing food was embarrassment. The big difference with the pātaka (food pantries) is you can access them at any time of the day - there’s no red tape, there’s no one standing there judging or ticking boxes.”
Luke says the pātaka are one piece of the puzzle in bringing food security to communities in need. “It’s about knowing you have access to food if you do need it.”
Things have changed for Pātaka Kai over the last year, which had to shut down the pātaka through most of the lockdown.
“Covid made everyone really aware of each other and we had that longing for community again,” Luke said. “People have become more aware of us, and we’ve seen increased engagement.”
More than that, she says the idea has caught on - more and more pātaka have appeared around the country, many not affiliated with Pātaka Kai.
But while accessibility to food is an important part of food security, Cammock says more attention needs to be paid to food’s cultural relevance.
She says healthy eating campaigns that ignore the cultural meaning of food may miss their target audience, and there should be more focus on promoting healthy food that people in communities over-represented in obesity feel connected to.
“When we see food that reflects ourselves, we are more likely to go for it,” she said, mentioning taro leaves and coconut as overlooked staples from the Pacific Islands. “If no one will eat it, it won’t change obesity rates.”
The chef at Papatoetoe Food Hub has explored different ways to be healthier with culturally relevant food.
“We have a vegetarian hangi,” said Bin. “Working within tradition, but also with differently sized portions - adapting it to the realities of nutritional gain.”
AUT researcher Daysha Tonumaipe’a says the approach should be more carrot than stick.
“It’s less about restricting what people can eat, and more about moving towards a space of healthier eating - a lot of it is about looking inward.”
She says Māori traditionally attained wellbeing through a central place in the community, and the idea of the food haven seeks to bring this idea back into the light.
“It is less about telling Māori and Pacific people ‘This is what you ought to eat’ and more about putting ownership back on our people – because we have our own solutions to these problems and can tap into indigenous ways of being and thinking to enhance our wellbeing,” she says.
“What we’re talking about is a journey of wellbeing, not an overnight fix.”
Cammock wants to see Counties-Manukau Health and the Government come to the table in supporting ways in which South Auckland communities are already striving for access to healthier food.
“People come to South Auckland and tell us what our food environment looks like, but not a lot of people care about what we are already doing to improve the spaces and places where we live,” she said. “Most of the things we are doing are not being captured or supported by the public sector.”
“It’s always been there, but overlooked.”
