Pataka Kai - by Jo Smith & Jessica Hutchings (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

We face a biodiversity crisis and a climate meltdown. Our food systems are broken, our soils are depleted and our seeds are owned by global corporations. The mainstream response to these crises drowns out the Indigenous perspectives and solutions that offer pathways to ecological, cultural and socio-economic sustainability as well as greater connection to food in our everyday lives. This book salutes Indigenous food heroes from across Aotearoa and Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa whose inspiring stories show how change begins locally and on a small scale. Written by verified Hua Parakore farmers, activists, Indigenous researchers and Indigenous food sovereignty leaders Jessica Hutchings and Jo Smith, Pataka Kai encourages a return to Indigenous values and practices to achieve kai sovereignty and wellbeing for Mother Earth and her people.

About the Author

Associate Professor Jo Smith (Waitaha, Kati Mamoe, Kai Tahu) is a senior kairangahau Maori for Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust who also researches and teaches at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. She has a PhD in film and media studies and is the author of various journal articles as well as Maori Television: The first ten years (Auckland University Press, 2016). Jo also co-edited (with Jessica Hutchings) Te Mahi Oneone Hua Parakore: A Maori soil sovereignty and wellbeing handbook (Freerange Press, 2020). Dr Jessica Hutchings (Ngai Tahu, Ngati Huirapa, Gujarati) is a senior kaupapa Maori research leader, author, activist and Hua Parakore grower who lives on a small whanau farm in Kaitoke, north of Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. She is the founding trustee of Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust, which works to uplift Indigenous food sovereignty through decolonising research, education and practice, and holds a PhD in environmental studies. She has worked for the past three decades in the Maori research sector, leading and supporting kaupapa Maori research.