Radical Rethinking

The last eight weeks have seen seismic-sized shifts in our food system here in New Zealand and overseas. It’s time to re-think how we move forward. For example, the government has just announced the roll-out of school lunches. What if they were made by local communities, employing local people? What if the food came from marae, urban and surrounding farms, and reflected the culturally unique make-up of those communities? What if educating our tamariki about how food is grown and where it comes from also became part of the school lunch programme? What a difference we could make to the future of our food nation.

The history of Eat New Zealand has always been about examining and re-imagining what we want as a food nation. We’ve got some hugely challenging and exciting opportunities in front of us. But it’s also a time for reflection, for connecting with our purpose and origin as a way to take things forward. It’s been comforting to revisit our Food Manifesto, created when Eat New Zealand began life as ConversatioNZ back in May 2015. The values of fellowship, culture, knowledge, biodiversity, balance, respect, innovation, awareness, pride, future and interconnection have never been more relevant. We’re proud that our foundation principles have withstood the examination in these strange new times.

So we’re taking things full circle. Going back to move forwards.

On Tuesday June 9th, five years to the month that the Food Manifesto was launched, Eat New Zealand will begin a new series of online ‘ConversatioNZ’ covering all aspects of our food system, through the diverse voices and perspectives of our food industry whānau, they'll take the form of webinars and podcasts.

So much has happened in the last five years. Eat New Zealand has transformed into a national food collective dedicated to connecting people to our land, through our food. We continue to work to reimagine a more resilient and sustainable future while seeking to provide a forum to encourage collaboration and a sense of community between all levels of the culinary chain. We want these conversations to start new ones, to challenge previous thinking, to educate, to connect and to bring hope for the future of food in Aotearoa.

Throughout the series we will hear from a host of producers, creative, change makers and vision holders at the heart of NZ food - from farmers, catchers and makers to chefs, media, tourism operators, eaters and everyone in between.

We are going to begin this new adventure with the people we started with, chefs. Founder Giulio Sturla will be joined by others to talk about the challenges facing hospitality, and to imagine what comes next.

Webinar via Zoom. Tuesday 9th June. 4pm - 5pm

Watch the Webinar "The Restaurant is Dead, Long Live the Restaurant."

We Don't Need a Ministry of Food, We Need a Citizenry of Food

The next of our webinar series will delve into the possibility of a National Food Strategy for New Zealand. What would a citizenry of food look like in New Zealand? What’s our collective plan now? On Tuesday the 23rd June we are bringing together some of the major thought leaders including: Geoff Kira - Aotearoa Food Policy Network Dr Jessica Hutchings - Co-Author 'Te Mahi Oneone Hua Parakore’ (Māori Food Sovereignty) Trish Malcolm - Kore Hiakai (Zero Hunger Collective) Lindy Nelson - Agri-women’s Development Trust Emily King - Spira & Food Systems Dialogue in Aotearoa

Webinar via Zoom. Tuesday 23rd June. 4pm - 5pm.

Watch the Webinar "We Don't Need a Ministry of Food, We Need a Citizenry of Food."

Radical Regionalisation.

We’re also working on specific food system sized projects including the continuation of our project connecting all our food and beverage producers into our story through our regions. On Tuesday 7th July we head there. What happens if we unlock the power and visions of our regional food producers, advocates and organizations?

Webinar via Zoom. Tuesday 7th July. 4pm - 5pm

Attendance is FREE. Register here via Eventbrite. A Zoom link will be sent prior to the webinar.