A taste of our roots: Aligning our plates and health with diversity
#EatNZKaitaki Siobhan Hemingway is an artist, designer & horticulture student with a passion for gardening. She shares her story of growing taewa & how her appreciation for biodiversity grew with it.
Biodiversity is a term used to describe the diverse array of plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms that bring remarkable life to the natural world. The term often springs to mind green, lush forests and thriving ecosystems.
Have you considered how this could relate to what’s on your plate, or even your hauora (health)?
Uniting the diversity of nature with what we eat, is a way of bringing more life into our minds and bodies. In Aotearoa, we have a treasure trove of biodiversity available to us. Some may say hidden treasures too. This includes foods that don’t show up at our supermarkets that are laden with the rich history of native species or ancestral cultivars that hold their stories of survival and community. As well as being chock-full of the nutrients that our 21st-century food commonly lacks. We have forests lined with native mushrooms and plants and oceans of Kaimoana that have nourished our people for hundreds of years. What if we could reconnect with this?
Our modern day life looks more like a trip to do the groceries or an online order at the click of a button. Not quite the whole day spent foraging, hunting, or tending to our crops. This doesn’t mean we can’t embrace these traditions and means of gathering food. We can unite these ancient ways with present conveniences too. There’s a variety of different ways we can continue to honour and uncover the diversity that’s been there for us whether or not we realised until now.
More diversity can surprisingly begin at potatoes - our beloved spuds are a kiwi staple. We’re used to the classics, the white or yellow ones, maybe even red, floury or waxy. Perhaps you’ve been intrigued seeing a purple skinned potato, yet succumbed to the familiar favourites that have made their way home time after time. I had the absolute joy of growing our dearest tubers for the first time last year. With a small growing space, there was no room left in my couple of garden beds, so 38L fabric grow bags it was. I chose Rocket, a fast growing new potato variety with a thin skin and white flesh. Unfortunately, this variety was a feast for the slugs and snails, which devoured the foliage, no matter how many times they were plucked off under torchlight raids. My greatest fortune was the result of me choosing diversity. My other grow bags were full of heritage taewa, the beautifully humble Māori potatoes.
Introduced to New Zealand in the 18th Century, Māori cultivated these heirloom spuds, and they became a staple crop that fed tribes and whānau for decades. A good handful of these varieties still exist today and are readily available as seed potatoes when the season arises in late winter. Huakaroro, Karuparera, Kowiniwini, Moemoe, Whataroa, Urenika, also known as Tūtaekurī, search for the translation or ask Te Reo Māori speakers what this translates to for a giggle. These earthy morsels, coloured in deep purple hues, rich browns, pinks and creams each carry their own distinct flavour. Waiporoporo, was the variety that became the most delightful surprise in my garden this year. A quicker maturing taewa it caught my eye when looking for another option to accompany the rocket spuds this season. The feelings of curiosity, belonging and trust came hand in hand with mine whilst planting these potatoes that my tīpuna (ancestors) grew, in my unassuming fabric bags. Whilst it seems far from the traditional ways of growing these tubers in well tended soil, I made sure to bring in plenty of organic matter, compost, worm castings and blood and bone. Doing my best to provide nutrients to the plant as it grew, encapsulated in a small bag of earth.
The return was more than I could have hoped. A delight in diversity, a new version of something I was so used to loving and eating. Waiporoporo potatoes did not let me down, they grew with ease, loving liquid seaweed feeds, without a complaint in sight. Mana shone from its’ leaves, none gnawed or it’s stems turned to sticks by slimy creatures. Just lush green foliage that signalled its’ readiness for harvest upon modestly dying back. The harvest was filled with thrill and elation, the feeling of striking gold as the vibrant purple tubers revealed themselves as I dug. They were my biggest harvest yet, a 2kg bounty of heritage nourishment grown in portable bag.
The point of my story, albeit a love story of growing taewa, is that we can rejoice in the diversity of heritage foods that are still alive today. A symbiotic relationship between human and plant or even animal that we have nurtured and bred alongside us. We have kept its DNA alive by propagation and reproduction, whilst in turn it has nourished us with fuel for new generations. Perhaps these heritage varieties can once again pass on their resilience and mana of the past to us today so we can adapt to our fast evolving world.
Why not make 2023, a new year, a new opportunity each day to think outside your usual shopping list… Can you find more diversity in your favourite produce? Heirloom tomatoes await you at farmers markets from growers who have as much delight in growing these tasty heritage toms, as they do in being able to share them. Forests and paddocks that await an experienced forager to share their knowledge of tasty fungi too. Maybe even choosing a different variety of taewa, potato to grow or explore on your taste buds. Wonderful resources of heritage seeds are listed below too. Getting in contact with a diverse range of local producers, foragers, farmers, your whānau, grandparents and friends is a fantastic way to add to your list and knowledge of diversity. Share stories of food passed down and carry them on with new delight.
Like our native birds rely on our native forests for food, protection and a place to call home. The diversity of food and what’s left of our heritage varieties and species rely on us. As genetic modification threatens to alter our food landscape or we lose yet another precious species, let’s make it our duty to keep their flame alive, glowing in our hearts, our bellies and the environment. More diversity on our plates means more resilience in our future, more options, more hope. Become a treasure hunter and let the jewels of diversity adorn your dinner table, ready to love and share.
List of places to find heritage seeds:
Koanga Institute: koanga.org.nz
Sethas Seeds: sethasseeds.co.nz
Heritage Food Crops: heritagefoodcrops.org.nz
Bio Heritage: bioheritage.nz
To see more from Siobhan, find her on Instagram at @siobhanirisrose.
This is a post in collaboration with #FOODDIVERSITYDAY taking place on Jan 13th in the UK. Learn more here.