He moumou kai, he moumou tāngata kai governance, kai sovereignty: social optimisation, environmental sustainability and inter-generational equity.

Political, structural, economic and societal constraints within Aotearoa, New Zealand reproduce status quo conditions of inaccessible, unaffordable and inferior quality food. Those who maintain colonised power relations and control over our food systems venerate a ‘one-size fits all’ solution aimed at growing the economy in support of neoliberalism. There is profit in maintaining a lower socio-economic stratum of society!

This presentation will discuss the culturally defined Māori notion of ‘kai’ and a selection of self-development initiatives that supports social optimisation, environmental sustainability and inter-generational equity from a localised perspective.
The transformational aspects of these initiatives assist in connecting and revitalising communities that collectively could create a platform for a national intervention aimed at eliminating hunger and starvation in Aotearoa, New Zealand. After all, New Zealand initiated a ban on “single-use plastic shopping bags” from 1 July 2019 – something that no one believed would have been possible a generation ago?

Multiple and simultaneous interventions are required to shift away from focussing on growing the economy as a neo-liberal society that perpetuates the status quo of inequity, to one of being brave and enacting transformational change.