Jenny Nicholls reviews Pātaka Kai: Growing kai sovereignty by Jessica Hutchings and Jo Smith for Waiheke Weekender:
‘As global supply chains become less stable, climate change hits, biodiversity plummets, government policies bite and US tariffs threaten to increase the price of food even more, Pātaka Kai is a book for the times.
Calling for a return to Indigenous practices to achieve kai sovereignty, the book talks to small-scale food farmers and whānau from māra/gardens in Aotearoa, Rēkohu/Chatham Islands and Te Moananui- a-Kiwa/the Pacific Ocean. Hua parakore is a kaupapa Māori system for growing kai developed by Te Waka Kai Ora, the National Māori Organics Authority. This beautiful book, designed and illustrated by graphic maestro Johnson Witehira, has been written by Hua Parakore farmers and Indigenous food activists Jessica Hutchings and Jo Smith.
“We call out the long history of this country’s economy being founded on agricultural colonisation,” says Jessica Hutchings, “and unpack what that means and explain how global agribusiness, Free Trade Agreements and big tech impacts on our land, sea and food scapes in Aotearoa.”
Don’t come expecting a how-to gardening guidebook, but a manifesto for change.’
