Far North marae focus on healthy kai

Jenny Ling

Marae kai masters Horace Davis and Betty Wihongi have a healthy breakfast with tamariki Devaysjah, Te Rongomatane and Treashalia.

Far North marae kitchens are moving from stodgy meat and spuds to chia seed salads and kombucha in their fight to reduce chronic disease among whanau.

Marae 'kai masters' Betty Wihongi and Horace Davis are leading the charge, having transformed the menu at Kohewhata Marae in Kaikohe, from mainly meat and vege based meals to healthy dishes which include vegetarian meals with tofu, pasta with carrot and courgette, beetroot hummus and fresh salmon.

The two women made the changes with help from Healthy Families Far North programmes Kitchen Table Talk and Te Puna Ora Papakainga, which aim to help Maori reclaim natural food sources and improve access to healthy and nutritious food for the community.

Jenny Ling

Betty Wihongi enjoys rolled oats with chia seeds and kombucha for brekkie.

Wihongi said using gluten free flour, making drinks like smoothies and kombucha with tumeric, and using less sugar and meat are making a huge difference.

Since they started making the changes last September, whanau in Auckland have heard about it and want to move home, she said.

"Even with the menfolk, they love it.

"We always had big meals, you'd have to have meat with everything. We used to run up to the bakery and buy slabs of sponges and apple pies and savouries, we do that very rarely now.

"It's just trying to move away from the meat side of it....and trying to minimise all the sickness around that and finding and enjoying new methods available to us. 

"Long term it's for our children, educating them and making them part of it."

The Puna Ora Papakainga initiative has also been delivered to Waiora Marae in Ngataki, and other marae in Pawarenga, Ahipara and Matauri Bay have expressed keen interest in joining the movement.

Healthy Families Manager Shirleyanne Brown said it's about teaching people how to use food available to them, and going back to basics.

"It's not about 'don't do this and don't do that', it's about having something else to offer," she said.

"If you've got lots of lemons on your trees instead of squeezing it into your vodka, let's use it in lemon curd or flavour pasta and just experiment.

"It's about getting in touch with wonderful flavours which have been lost because of all the sugar and salt...getting back in touch with things we used to do in the old days and falling in love with food again."

Brown said Wihongi and Davis are "amazing ladies".

"They've embraced everything, they're wonderful.

"They've got a huge amount of respect and cred in this town.

"They're the backbone of Kaikohe and particularly of this marae here."