Feijoa skin jelly, syrup and natural fizzy drink

 

Feijoas are my favourite. It has been over 10 years now since I first experimented with making things out of the skins. See previous posts here and here. It's funny that these blog posts are my most popular ever. I even once had someone contact me from the Minister's Office of a department I was working in a few years ago asking for more information on how to make the feijoa fizz because she'd been looking into it and found my blog post. I get a wee bit (hilariously) possessive about the recipe because I'm sure I invented it, and when I see others sharing it online without crediting me I feel a tinge of some kind of emotion. But maybe I'm wrong and someone else invented it before my blog post went a bit viral and was featured in a couple of magazines (insert laughing emoji or something).

I've recently been making quince jelly which you can do with just the skin and cores of quinces. These parts are higher in pectin than the flesh, and are therefore ideal for jelly. The same is true for feijoa skins. 

As I've said before, most of the flavour of feijoas is in the skin, but I don't eat them raw (like some people do) as they are too acidic and tanniny for me. I do use them, however. My top three three uses are currently feijoa skin jelly, syrup and natural fizzy drink.

You can start all three processes in much the same way, by soaking freshly cut and scooped feijoa skins in water. I try to put them in water straight away, as I eat them, so I put a pot of water on the stove and then pop the feijoa skins in. It will keep like this for a day or two.

To make the fizzy drink 

• I loosely fill a jar with feijoa skins and pour in enough water to cover them.
• Add in a tablespoon of sugar per litre and let it sit on the bench for a couple of days.
• Then I strain the liquid into a sealable jar, and let it ferment another couple of days, either on the bench or in the fridge. 

It's very yummy. If you're having trouble with this recipe because feijoa skins are getting moldy, try adding half a teaspoon of salt when you add the sugar. Also, if you have a yeasty layer on top, that's fine and normal. The natural yeast on the feijoa skins is what makes them ferment so well without adding yeast. It also helps to use fresh skins as once the feijoas are old and squishy they have more vinegar type yeasts in them - which is fine if you're making vinegar instead and I've done that before with the skins too!

For feijoa skin syrup 

• You will want to use at least one cup of sugar per 500mls of water, and use enough water to cover your fresh feijoa skins. 
• You will also want about 1tsp of citric acid per cup of water (or half a lemon/cup). 
• If you have a pot loosely filled (of half-filled etc) with feijoa skins, measure the water as you tip it over, and add in enough cups to cover the skins. So say you've added 4 cups (one litre) of water, you'd add in at least two cups of sugar and the citric acid or lemon juice. 
• Let this sit overnight so the flavour has time to absorb into the water. Then bring the mixture to the boil. 
• I like to boil it for a while, but that's up to you. The longer the feijoas boil for, the more colour tends to come out of them. 
• Decant into sterilised glass bottles through a sieve.

This should keep for over a year, but results may vary. I use this syrup primarily for making drinks with soda water, sometimes cocktails, but you can also use it on desserts or pancakes etc.

For the feijoa skin jelly 

• It's very similar to the above. 
• Use one cup of sugar for every cup of water it takes to cover the feijoa skins. 
• Also add the juice of a lemon to help get the pectin out. You could use multiple lemons if you prefer more acidity. 
• I let the feijoa skins sit in the pot with the sugar and water overnight and then bring them to the boil the next day. 
• I let this simmer for a while and even let it cool down a couple of times before boiling again, but you could just let them simmer for a while. It may take 90 minutes or so. 
• You can test to see if the jelly is setting by dripping a bit onto a plate and popping it in the fridge. If it goes quite jelly-like and stops running it will probably set in the jars too.
• After building the mixture should be a lovely red colour, but this may vary.
• Line a colander with a muslin cloth or clean tea-towel, pour the hot liquid through it to strain out the skins and any sediment. Sometimes I do this a bit earlier on and then keep boiling the clear red liquid until it's jelly enough.
• Decant into sterilised glass jars with a metal ladel while the mixture is still very hot. I sterilise them by putting clean jars in the oven or sometimes just by pouring boiling water over them.
• Put the lids on while it's still very hot and hopefully they will suck in after a little while to seal.

This jelly has a strong feijoa flavour and is great on scones, crumpets and toast. I love to spread a bit of cream cheese on toast and then put the jelly on top. Extremely yummy!

So those are my three favourite ways to use feijoas at the moment. What are yours?

Food, Freedom, Community: Local solutions, community economics, and food sovereignty in New Zealand

The current global crisis has sparked a call to do things differently. There has been renewed interest in local food and sustainable economics. I happen to have spent years studying these things - so I figure it’s about time to publish a book based on my PhD 🍎🥦🥑🌽

Here it is! Food, Freedom, Community: Local Solutions, Community Economics, and Food Sovereignty
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1013685

Because of the nature of this book, I wanted to offer it for a koha, instead of charging a fixed price for the ebook, so you can pay what you like (including $0😊).

I've been busy working on this the past few weeks and I'm excited to finally be able to share it! The ebook is ready and there will be a print version available. There is also a Kindle version and a paperback available on Amazon and through other international channels: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088P9X542

If there’s a lot of interest we will have a local print run too.

If you're interested in food activism, food sovereignty, local food, sustainable community economics, and the stories of how local food providers (mostly around Whaingaroa/Raglan) got to be doing what they're doing, then this book is for you! 🥦🍎🌽🥑

here is the blurb:

Food isn’t just what we eat, it connects us to our family, our community and the world around us.

We live in a challenging time in history, facing unprecedented global crises, and yet, local food initiatives by small farmers, community workers, and activists offer solutions to these large complex problems. Solutions at the local level can give us personal and community agency, connecting us with one another and inspiring new ways of thinking, sharing and creating value.

The problems with global corporate capitalist exploitation are becoming more and more evident. Local food and strong community networks can provide alternatives to this destructive system, as well as many wider benefits for society and the environment.

This book shows alternative food networks, food sovereignty, and social economics, through case-studies of real people and communities in both urban and rural New Zealand, as well as a global lens.

Please share this post 😊

Shared Lunch: An Ethnography of Food Sovereignty in Whaingaroa and Beyond (my PhD thesis)

Image credit: Elaine Casap, Unspash

It has been a while since I've posted here. I completed my PhD in 2017 and I'm pleased to report that the examiners loved it! The final exam was a wonderful experience and it was great to have the support of close friends and family with me for the process.

Here are the quotes from the examiners:

Thank you for devoting you time and energy into this timely, relevant and enlightening thesis...This is a rare find.

Once I found time to devote to it, I could not put it down. It is practical, professional, personal and political. It calls for action without being a ‘biased activist’ type of thesis.

It simply needs to be published and shared with wider audiences as it provides a useful template for researching community development and grassroots actions…

Local focus is balanced with a bigger picture and current global issues in the world which makes this thesis timely and relevant. 

Ksenija Napan  -  Associate Professor, Massey University

Let me first aknowlege that this is one of the best-written dissertations I have ever read in over 30 years at this!

I was skeptical at first about Ritchie’s ability to “draw together the threads” and had to read quite far into the document to begin to see it – but then it was there!

In this way, the reader was able to slowly integrate the bits, possibly much like the researcher had sone, and it worked beautifully. It almost reads like a novel, it is so interesting, and I very much enjoyed reading it!

Grace Ann Rosile,  -  Professor, New Mexico State University

And here is the beginning of the abstract:

Food presents complex interconnectedness between inner and outer; social and political; culture and biochemistry; values and practices; tradition and innovation; wealth and poverty; the global, local and highly personal. Amid this multifaceted intersection vast bodies of contemporary academic literature have emerged. This study is an ethnography of alternative food networks; of food sovereignty and social economics. More specifically it is an ethnography of a community of small-scale local food providers in Whaingaroa, a small coastal township in Aotearoa [New Zealand]. Through the lenses provided by perspectives of these food providers, the global corporate food system is critiqued. Through their everyday practices, alternatives have been developed which offer potential solutions to widely recognised problems associated with environmental and social exploitation. These problems are largely attributed to the current dominant global systems of corporate capitalism, including the dominant systems of food production, consumption and disposal.

You can read the full thesis here.

Thank you for following my research journey on this blog. It has really helped to shape my thinking around my Masters and PhD research.

What's next?
I've just published my second novel, Fishing for Māui, which has themes around food, family and mental illness. I drew a lot from my Masters research in writing this novel and I'm so pleased to finally be publishing it! You can read more about it on my website. It is available from the distributor, on Amazon, MeBooks, Bookdepository, Smashwords, and all good bookstores and libraries in New Zealand!

What is food sovereignty?

Originally published in OrganicNZ magazine, 

By Isa Ritchie

Food sovereignty was a hot topic along with concerns over the recent Food Bill (now Food Act 2014), but what does it actually mean? Over the past four years I have been researching food sovereignty for my PhD thesis. I didn’t know what it meant when I first started. I was interested in the free food activities and food activism that seemed to be springing up more and more. I wanted to look at community gardening, dumpster-diving, permaculture and alternative economies around food. During this time I came across food sovereignty literature and got inspired.

La Via Campesina peasant movement

The concept of food sovereignty arose in 1996 from the international peasant movement La Via Campesina, which was formed in 1993 and represents more than 180 groups of small farmers and migrant workers around the world – see viacampesina.org. Via Campesina was disillusioned with the United Nations’ concept of ‘food security’, which is focused on households having access to adequate food. This concept favours food policies that maximise food production and access opportunities, without questioning how, where and by whom food is produced.

The co-option of ‘food security’

The term ‘food security’ has been co-opted by big corporations. Companies like Monsanto were (and still are) putting pressure on the United Nations to support their genetically engineered crops in the name of food security, often at the expense of indigenous people and small-scale farmers.

‘Food security’ offered no real possibilities for transforming the existing system, which is socially and environmentally exploitative. Therefore, Via Campesina called for a new term, one that could not be co-opted by big corporations because its focus is strongly connected with communities having power over their own food system.

Healthy food and farming that empowers people

According to the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty:

“Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.

It puts those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations. It defends the interests and inclusion of the next generation.

It offers a strategy to resist and dismantle the current corporate trade and food regime, and directions for food, farming, pastoral and fisheries systems determined by local producers.

Food sovereignty prioritises local and national economies and markets and empowers peasant and family farmer-driven agriculture, artisanal fishing, pastoralist-led grazing, and food production, distribution and consumption based on environmental, social and economic sustainability.”

– Declaration of Nyéléni, 2007

A radical critique of corporate food

According to a vast and growing body of research, food sovereignty is a potentially radical and powerful critique of the corporate food industry. It also focuses on alternative models for agriculture that are intended to be more environmentally and socially just. The grass-roots origins of food sovereignty, as well as its inclusive nature, are two of its greatest strengths.

With its strong focus on caring for people and the environment, and its obvious similarity with permaculture, agroecology and indigenous values, it has the ability to connect diverse groups of people variety of different backgrounds. Organic farming shares these values: the International Federation of Organic Agriculture (IFOAM, of which Soil & Health/Organic NZ is a member), is based on the four principles of health, ecology, fairness and care.

Food sovereignty has also been used as a platform to influence government policy in several countries including Ecuador, Venezuela, Mali, Bolivia, Nepal, Senegal and some parts of the United States. It is intentionally linked directly to democracy and justice by putting the control of land, water, seeds and natural resources in the hands of the people who produce food. A core purpose of the food sovereignty campaign is to redistribute land and the power over food production to enable marginalised communities to produce their own food.

Food sovereignty in Aotearoa

In my doctoral research, which has been based in Raglan and a few other parts of New Zealand, I have found that a lot of small-scale local food producers already hold shared values that reflect those of the international food sovereignty campaign.

Groups such as Te Waka Kai Ora, the Koanga Institute, various community gardens, permaculturists and members of Soil & Health have been working towards similar goals and resisting similar corporate powers. 

We can also learn a lot from how food activists and organisations in other countries have influenced their governments to do more to support sustainable food production. In the face of a global corporate system that works by a process of alienation, the most powerful thing we can do is practice connectedness.

Isa Ritchie is a researcher and writer: www.nourishingrevolution.blogspot.co.nz

[SIDEBAR]

The 6 pillars of food sovereignty

1.    Focuses on food for people: The right to healthy and culturally appropriate food is the basic legal demand underpinning food sovereignty. Guaranteeing it requires policies that support diversified food production in each region and country. Food is not simply another commodity to be traded or speculated on for profit.

2.    Values food providers: Many smallholder farmers suffer violence, marginalisation and racism from corporate landowners and governments. People are often pushed off their land by mining concerns or agribusiness. Agricultural workers can face severe exploitation and even bonded labour. Although women produce most of the food in the global south, their role and knowledge are often ignored, and their rights to resources and as workers are violated. Food sovereignty asserts food providers’ right to live and work in dignity.

3.    Localises food systems: Food must be seen primarily as sustenance for the community and only secondarily as something to be traded. Under food sovereignty, local and regional provision takes precedence over supplying distant markets, and export-orientated agriculture is rejected. The ‘free trade’ policies that prevent developing countries from protecting their own agriculture, for example through subsidies and tariffs, are also inimical to food sovereignty.

4.    Puts control locally: Food sovereignty places control over territory, land, grazing, water, seeds, livestock and fish populations on local food providers and respects their rights. They can use and share them in socially and environmentally sustainable ways that conserve diversity. Privatisation of such resources, for example through intellectual property rights regimes or commercial contracts, is explicitly rejected.

5.    Builds knowledge and skills: Technologies, such as genetic engineering, that undermine food providers’ ability to develop and pass on knowledge and skills needed for localised food systems are rejected. Instead, food sovereignty calls for appropriate research systems to support the development of agricultural knowledge and skills.

6.    Works with nature: Food sovereignty requires production and distribution systems that protect natural resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, avoiding energy-intensive industrial methods that damage the environment and the health of those that inhabit it.

Nyéléni 2007 – Forum for Food Sovereignty, www.foodsovereignty.org

Draft abstract

I have been working on an abstract (brief summary at the beginning) for my thesis.

Abstract

This is an ethnography of alternative food networks; of food sovereignty social economics. More specifically it is an ethnography of a community of small-scale local food providers in a small coastal township in Aotearoa [New Zealand].  Through the lens provided by the values and perspectives of these food providers, the global corporate food system is critiqued. Through their practices, small-scale solutions and alternatives are constructed to the widely recognised problems associated with the environmental and social exploitation attributed to the current dominant systems.

I came to this research with a deep commitment to social justice, and a deep concern for our ecosystems on this planet. My focus on food has been influenced by experiences of food insecurity in my childhood and observations of abject poverty; by ongoing negotiations in my life around food as healthy, ethical and affordable; by an acute awareness of the ruthless social and environmental exploitation involved in the corporate food industry; by a deliberately cultivated attitude of optimism, and by a strong compulsion to search for and promote more sustainable models of food production.

Over the course of this research I learned about various food democratisation initiatives throughout the country. These included community gardens, seed banks, free shops, dumpster diving, land-sharing, food co-ops and other forms of food hubs, courses, workshops and internships, sustainability focussed intentional communities and eco-villages, revivals of traditional Māori gardening, groups focussed on planting public fruit trees, groups focussed on harvesting fruit that would otherwise go to waste, and wild foraging initiatives, among others. I also learned about initiatives based in various different countries, from the car-park community gardens in the largely deserted urban slums of Detroit to the allotment gardens of Hawaii.  On some level, it is evident that all these small-scale local initiatives are connected, if only in that they are a response by community to the tensions of struggle and scarcity created by the globalising corporate system. They present a logical, even obvious, response based on the minimal agency that people do have in a world where resources and power is becoming more and more concentrated ‘in the hands of the few’. They present a deliberate focus on solutions, and on what is possible and achievable by small groups of people with minimal resources, and they present a protest against the alienation inflicted by the global corporate food system.  I argue that these food-based initiatives are connected, not only with food sovereignty, but also with movements towards localised economies and alternative economics, such as Living Economies. They are connected with what has been called the ‘Global Justice Movement’, which protests corporate and government exploitation.

Thoughts?

Paradigms of connectedness for sustainable food systems: food sovereignty, agroecology, permaculture, indigenous values and 'working with nature'

This is based on a presentation I did a few weeks ago at am interdisciplinary conference at Massey University, on 'Working with Nature'. The second part of it is quite similar to the last presentation I posted, because I still think it's a good idea.

Western thought is dominated by false dichotomies, perhaps none is more pervasive or absurd than the one separating human beings from ‘nature’.   Whereas ‘nature’ was once a wilderness to be tamed, the mainstream perspective has shifted to perceive it as precious, fragile and in need of our protection. This view does not allow any room for human beings to exist within nature, and yet, scientifically, it is impossible to see us in any other way. What lies at the heart of this problem is a fracture in dominant Western theory which has resulted in ontologies of violence, alienation and disconnection. These have potentiated many of humanity’s most embarrassing historical episodes of social and environmental exploitation. In order to begin to remedy these issues, interconnectedness with ‘nature’ must be recognised in terms of social, economic and environmental ecosystems. In recent years, food, an integral part of culture and daily life, has become increasingly politicised, in relation to globalising corporate capitalism as well as with local struggles for food sovereignty. This presentation draws on the indigenous Māori value of whakapapa, which can be described as the journey of things through space and time as well as three paradigms of connectedness which are relevant to food production: permaculture, agroecology and food sovereignty.  These paradigms are all examples of ‘working within nature’, rather than against it. They are all compatible with each other and overlapping. Each has been developed with careful reflection regarding the function of complex ecosystems and indigenous knowledge, and are based on ontologies of connectedness in juxtaposition to globalising capitalism’s ontology of alienation.  These theoretical strands are illuminated by ethnographic reflections from my doctoral fieldwork focussed on local food and food sovereignty in New Zealand.  I argue that genuine pathways to sustainability and resilience are only possible through agricultural models based on ecosystems and indigenous knowledge systems, and through the proliferation and support of small-scale community initiatives.

According to Plato Heraclitus and Parmenides once had an argument over a river. Parmenides said it was a static thing. Heraclitus said it was constantly changing. Parmenides won and went on to inspire dominant Western philosophers theory, particularly the philosophers who lead to the creation of modern science, such as pythagoras.

This is one way of telling a story about a rift in Western philosophy - and  of the subsequent fracturing that has allowed us to become more and more disconnected from 'nature', from our ecosystems, and from ourselves.

 Heraclitus went on to feature in motivational posters:

He also inspired the philosophical tradition followed by Hegel, Marx and Friere, among others.

This tradition is less black and white than ‘logic’, it is more holistic and tends to integrate rather than just dismiss different perspectives.

This is the tradition I was unknowingly drawn to, possibly by intuition, possibly because it reflects my upbringing and the emersion in indigenous Māori culture I experienced as a young child.

 This separation, and countless other examples of fracturing discourse has precipitated a perspective of human beings as separate to nature – culminating in gross distortions

•Of our significance

•Of our relationship to the world

Older ideas of Taming nature have given way to more recent notions of saving the world.

We may be incapable of seeing “nature” accurately, but “nature as separate” is a very strange concept, to begin with.

There is no word in Māori for nature as separate from humans.

There is no word for “Wilderness” in many languages.

Indigenous perspectives tend to be much more inclusive and interconnected.

The concept of “nature” as separate from “human beings" is essentially alienating and embarrassingly (ironically) unscientific

What we can be sure of is that we are facing major challenges to our survival, as a species, and this awareness could potentially lead to doing things better.

Looking out the window of a plane, have you ever noticed how much land is used for our food production?

We have shaped large chunks of this planet into our personal bread-basket. 

If we are going to start ‘working with nature’ this is a good place to focus

A critical perspective is important here…

While there is plenty to be critical of, it is also helpful to look for solutions, to find working models and inspiration.

Genuine sustainability must come from the grass-roots, upward. It must be holistic and multi-faceted.

Economic, social and environmental – genuine sustainability is synonymous with healthy interconnected ecosystems.

Agroecology comes from ecology – from the ‘natural sciences’ – it takes an ecological approach to agriculture. 

A whole-systems approach to agriculture and food systems development based on traditional knowledge, alternative agriculture, and local food system experiences.

Linking ecology, culture, economics, and society to sustain agricultural production, healthy environments, and viable food and farming communities.

Sparked in 1996 by Vía Campesina, an international peasant movement representing more than 180 international organisations advocating for peasants, migrant agricultural workers, indigenous food providers and small-scale farmers.

•Producing food for people, not for the global commodity market

•Valuing food producers

•Localising food systems

•Local control over resources

•Building skills and knowledge

•Working with Nature

Bill Mollison:

Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system.

Permaculture (permanent agriculture/culture) is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems

Consciously designed landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fibre and energy for provision of local needs.

It is a system which can be applied to anything – society/community, economics…

Local food map by Te Mauri Tau

Whaingaroa (Raglan)

•Whaingaroa is a dynamic community engaged in activities related to food sovereignty. 

•Groups and initiatives are closely interconnected. 

•Strong focus on ‘local’, ‘organic’, ‘sustainable’

•There is still a long way to go.

•Supermarket culture: a lot of food is still purchased from the town supermarkets or from Hamilton

•Not enough local food producers yet (more coming?)

•Poverty and social exclusion vs the ‘green bubble’

 •Interconnectedness is key

•Food sovereignty is about relationships

Gardens at Kaiwhenua Organics

What can we learn from the local food producers of Whaingaroa?

•People can lead incredibly rich lives without much material wealth

•Balancing the economic, social and environmental  - and viewing them as interconnected

•Strong critiques of the corporate food system: control, ecological damage and exploitation

•People have gotten too disconnected from food: need to reconnect, Food needs to be real

•The right to have access to food…

•Food should be: local, sustainably produced, safe and abundant.

•Supporting local food producers: avoiding competition, working together

•Respecting indigenous values, learning from indigenous wisdom

•Indigenous systems have been developed alongside ecological systems – necessarily –

•We can learn a lot from ecological systems, from the indigenous knowledge systems in our local landscape

•Without considering the flows and cycles of ecosystems, without considering ourselves part of them, we cannot move past sustainability as a catchword

Through understanding the interconnectedness we can repair fragmented ontologies, heal rifts and avoid environmental, social and economic exploitation.

Pathways to Sustainability through Food Sovereignty and Agroecology: a Holistic Approach

This post is based on a presentation I did at a sustainability symposium at the University of Waikato a few weeks ago.

Abstract:

Food sovereignty and agroecology have been the focus of much academic attention in recent years, although very little has been published on these topics in a New Zealand context. These paradigms have been instrumental in highlighting multifaceted problems of social and environmental exploitation emerging from the existing industrialised food systems and identifying more sustainable solutions. This presentation draws on preliminary findings from doctoral research focused on food sovereignty in New Zealand. Qualitative data was were gathered through ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews with people who produce, organise and distribute local food in a small coastal New Zealand township, as well as in several contrasting settings. It presents diverse understandings around organic and local food, environmental protection, community resilience and living economies. The findings are that genuine pathways to sustainability are possible through agricultural models based on ecosystems and indigenous knowledge systems, and through the proliferation and support of small-scale community initiatives.

Sustainability has become a catchword…

A linguistic representation of a cultural shift in perspective that has increasingly necessary in the face of emerging global crises – climate, food, waste, energy and inequality

This wave has reached the point where it’s no longer just a few hippies waving placards, it is increasingly ubiquitous

The movement that first became mainstream for my generation with the likes of Captain Planet has now reached critical mass

But does this mean the words are being over-used? Green-washed?

Has sustainability lost meaning? Has it been corporatised?

A critical perspective is important here…

While there is plenty to be critical of, it is also helpful to look for solutions, to find working models and inspiration

Genuine sustainability must come from the grass-roots, upward. It must be holistic and multi-faceted.

Economic, social and environmental – genuine sustainability is synonymous with healthy interconnected ecosystems.

Agroecology is a whole-systems approach to agriculture and food systems development based on traditional knowledge, alternative agriculture, and local food system experiences: linking ecology, culture, economics, and society to sustain agricultural production, healthy environments, and viable food and farming communities. It's also a less ‘hippy’ term for permaculture

Permaculture (permanent agriculture/culture) is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems

Consciously designed landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fibre and energy for provision of local needs.

It is a system which can be applied to anything – society/community, economics…

Sparked in 1996 by Vía Campesina, an international peasant movement representing more than 180 international organisations advocating for peasants, migrant agricultural workers, indigenous food providers and small-scale farmers.

Food sovereignty is about:

•   Producing food for people, not for the global commodity market
•   Valuing food producers
•   Localising food systems
•   Local control over resources
•   Building skills and knowledge
•   Working with Nature

This local food map was made by one of the local groups in Whaingaroa, where my research is based.

Whaingaroa is a dynamic community engaged in activities related to food sovereignty

Groups and initiatives are closely interconnected

There is a strong focus on ‘local’, ‘organic’, ‘sustainable’

There is still a long way to go....

•Supermarket culture: a lot of food is still purchased from the town supermarkets or from Hamilton

•Not enough local food producers yet (more coming?)

•Poverty and social exclusion vs the ‘green bubble’

Interconnectedness is key

Food sovereignty is about relationships

What can we learn from the local food producers of Whaingaroa?

* People can lead incredibly rich lives without much material wealth

* Balancing the economic, social and environmental  - and viewing them as interconnected

* There are strong critiques, here, of the corporate food system: control, ecological damage and exploitation

* People have gotten too disconnected from food: need to reconnect, Food needs to be real

* Food should be: local, sustainably produced, safe and abundant.

* There is a strong focus on supporting local food producers: avoiding competition, working together

* There is also a strong focus on respecting indigenous values and learning from indigenous wisdom

Indigenous systems have been developed alongside ecological systems – necessarily –

We can learn a lot from ecological systems, from the indigenous knowledge systems in our local landscape

Without considering the flows and cycles of ecosystems, without considering ourselves part of them, we cannot move past sustainability as a catchword

Through understanding the interconnectedness we can repair fragmented ontologies, heal rifts and avoid environmental, social and economic exploitation.