Food Narrative - 1B

Food narrative:
Tianni Viqasi
Much like everyone else, my best memories of food are with me surrounded by
family, my loved ones. Arriving at our grandparents on Panama Road, where
the first thing you see are shoes piled outside the door and the first thing you
smell is nana’s baked coconut bread (which is also a request from our family at
any function she goes to). This sweet aroma always gave me a wholesome,
homely feeling. Knowing I’m about to step into a space filled with love and
laughter. Greeting all my aunties as I walk past the kitchen, I can always make
out the smell of takihi (pawpaw and taro), lu’au (taro leaves, coconut cream and
corn beef) and chicken curry but you had to be quick enough to dip into the
hallway otherwise you were on dishwashing duties. Even while I was doing my
rounds of ‘hellos’ through the house, the aroma of the feast that awaits us fills
the air. Looking back on it now as a young adult, I don’t long for these foods
just because they taste good, but because it reminds me of how close my family
use to be. Now we’re all grown up and living in different parts of the world.
Through this experience I’m able to draw on the idea taha whānau, one of the
pillars in Te Whare Tapa Wha (Durie, 1994). It speaks to the importance of
belonging, individuals becoming one and is reflected through the unique ability
to gather family together through ancestorial foods. As written by Ministry of
Health NZ (2017), “The capacity to belong, to care and to share where
individuals are part of wider social systems.” The sense of self and security I
feel impacts my wellbeing immensely. This harmonious exchange can also
show aspects of Hā ā koro mā, ā kuia mā (Love, 2004). My nana’s utilisation of
this intergenerational skill guides people to facilitating connections and taught
to her whanau to instil values and manaakitanga. This disposition has
grounded us and is a lesson I hold close to my heart. The ability to host people
is valued because it was a good sign of physical (taha tinana) strength amongst
your household.
My nana always believed that fruits were the best dessert, especially
Watermelon. This obviously meant me, and all my cousins were on the deck
seeing who could finish theirs the quickest – totally ignoring the juice racing
down our arms, face, and clothes. We also had throwing competitions with our
leftover watermelon skins, and I often came last in that competition (or second
to last if my younger sister was playing too). Yes, I know it sounds ill-mannered
of us, but I promise it’s not as barbaric as it sounds. My nana had a fruit and
veggie garden that wrapped around her plum tree and along the back fence. She
grew potato’s that were used in curry’s, taro leaves for our umu’s (Pacific Island
oven in the ground – like a hangi) and strawberries that never got a chance to
fully grow because each grandchild would sneak one when they got the chance.
We were always encouraged to take our food scraps to her garden as if it was
their turn to be feed. So of course, in my family’s competitive nature, we turned
it into a game.
Another key hauora component we see examples of through Te Whare Tapa

Wha (Durie, 1994) is taha wairua. Using a holistic approach through the
spiritual teachings of living off the land and giving back to the land. “Belief in
God is one reflection of wairua, but it is also evident in relationships with the
environment.”, as explained in the extract (Durie, 1994.). I comprehend it to be
a system of nurturing one another and by caring for the land we live on, it will
in turn reward us immensely. This impacts my wellbeing as it provides me with
a sense of duty and responsibility to my ancestor’s way of life and is something
I can be proud of. Contributing to a force higher than myself gives me a sense
of purpose.
Once I grew old enough to start staying over at my friends’ houses, I was
stunned at the realisation that their lasagne was not like ‘our’ lasagne. I was
never a picky eater, but I just couldn’t fathom the idea the lasagne could taste so
different, so bitter, so weird. I wondered if it was because he was a dad because
well, I had never seen my dad cook that much. Or if it was because they were
from Australia, and I was from New Zealand. My mum’s lasagne was so rich
tasting, sweet and very cheesy. The type of ‘cheesy’ that stretches so much it
hangs out your mouth a bit whenever you take a bite. This was the first time I
had noticed that people had different ways of cooking the same thing. Growing
up close with our Ethiopian neighbours, I was no stranger to food that was
unfamiliar to my palate, but this was breaking news to my 11-year-old self. I
was later informed the only difference was a bit of sugar and a different type of
cheese.
One of the tentacles in Te Wheke (Pere, 1991) that proves prevalent in this
memory is whatumanawa. This concept touches on the notion of fully
expressing our range of emotions as human beings (Love, 2004) and how
valued becomes in relation to my wellbeing. Whatumanawa is called upon to
express significant appreciation I have for my mum’s cooking and how greatly I
took it for granted. The need for these emotions keeps us human, keeps us
vulnerable with each other. “This is particularly demonstrated in common
expectations in a counselling context that the expression of emotion should
involve the cognitive process of ‘putting feelings into words’, ‘naming’ one’s
feelings, and ‘talking about’ how one feels. “, is explained by (Love, 2004) (p.
75). This is an important piece to mention as I never vocalised how much I
admired my mum for giving us transformational experiences with food and
how fortunate I was for that. If I had viewed this experience through the
whatumanawa lens, I would have been able to create a more impactful
connection with my mum and strength a bond between us both.
My relationship with food did start to change as a young teenager. As my social

skill started to develop, so did my social awareness. I never had one negative
thought about the way my body looked until I noticed my friends start to
vocalise how they saw their bodies. This really damped my self-image because I
thought, “If they’re speaking negatively about their bodies, I wonder what they
think of me?” There was no denying that I was bigger than the other girls in my
class, but it was worse that I towered over some of them (and some boys too). I
also grew a love for sports around that age and found I was pretty good at it too,
so I was extremely active then. I had also wondered why my body didn’t look
slim like all my friends when I was involved in so much sport and exercise. It
didn’t take me until high school to realise that I was never going to look like my
friends because we just had different body shapes. I was just bigger than my
friends and that was enough for me to start perceiving myself negatively.
The dominant feature in this passage channelled through Te Whare Tapa Wha
is taha tinana. The methods and practices in which you manage your vessel,
your body and its health is what taha tinana can be summarised to (Durie,
1994). As pronounced by (Durie, 1994), “Body image may be regarded
differently by Māori. Slender body forms are nor necessarily prized more than
well-rounded shapes, nor does obesity provoke the same of disapproval
encountered in society generally.” Seeing myself through a taha tinana
perspective changes my wellbeing is a more positive light. It reassures me that
I don’t need to conform to societal norms to feel attractive and good about
myself. I feel safe around a community/society that supports Te Whare Tapa
Wha and their ideologies.
References:
Mental Health Foundation. (2023) Te Whare Tapa Wha. Retrieved from

https://mentalhealth.org.nz/getting-through-together/wellbeing-for-parents-
and-whanau/te-whare-tapa-wha-GTT
Ministry of Health. (2017) Māori health models – Te Whare Tapa Whā. Ministry
of Health NZ.
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/populations/maori-health/maori-
health-models/maori-health-models-te-whare-tapa-wha
Love, C. (2004). Extension on Te Wheke. Retrieved from

https://repository.openpolytechnic.ac.nz/handle/11072/182
Durie, M. (1994). Whaiora: Māori Health Development. Auckland: Oxford

University Press.
Pere, R. T. (1991). Te wheke: A celebration of infinite wisdom (2nd ed.). Wairoa,

New Zealand: Ao Ako Global Learning New Zealand.

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Food narrative:

Another key hauora component we see examples of through Te Whare Tapa

My relationship with food did start to change as a young teenager. As my social

Mental Health Foundation. (2023) Te Whare Tapa Wha. Retrieved from

Love, C. (2004). Extension on Te Wheke. Retrieved from

Durie, M. (1994). Whaiora: Māori Health Development. Auckland: Oxford

Pere, R. T. (1991). Te wheke: A celebration of infinite wisdom (2nd ed.). Wairoa,

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