Learning the history of kai (food) makes it taste a little bit sweeter, says Ōtāwhiwhi Marae chairman Reon Tuanau.

Kai is steeped in tradition for Māori, so Tuanau jumped at the chance to share kai culture in the Flavours of Plenty Festival and presented in collaboration with Echo Walking Festival.

Echo Walking Festival chairwoman Vicki Lambert said, “Stories are central to Māori culture and the passing on of knowledge and the opportunity to work together on this was perfect.”

The whakatauk`i (proverb) Tuanau has chosen for the day is ko te kai a te rangatira he k`orero (the food of chiefs is dialogue). The idea is to share stories at the heart of Māori history, culture and whakapapa (ancestry).

“Visitors will hear about the kai, we talk about the kai and then we go and taste the kai,” Tuanau said.

The humble kūmara

He’ll talk of the “humble” kūmara in the area and what the root vegetable means to Māori as a staple of early New Zealand life.

One of his stories is about Māori who arrived in the Western Bay of Plenty ... they had mistaken the abundance of local mangroves to be kūmara so had exhausted their supply. But one woman had a secret stash of kūmara and it was this which was planted and sustained them for the season ahead.

Kūmara. Photo / NZPA, Ross Setford

The day includes a welcome and local kai narrative, a traditional kūmara dish demonstration, a traditional hands-on fry bread workshop, including make your own paua fry bread burger, and the day culminates with a fire on the water’s edge to prepare kaimoana (seafood).

“This will be the swan song of the meal,” Tuanau said. “We’ll make it the way they used to in the old days like on corrugated iron or even on a shovel.”

The event will also be a fundraiser for their marae with proceeds going towards a trip to Tuhua - Mayor Island.

The details

What: K`orere and Kai

Where: Otawhiwhi Marae, Bowentown

When: April 12, 10am-2pm

Tickets: events.flavoursofplentyfestival.com