Mahinga Kai

Traditional foods, their sources, and methods of food gathering (mahinga kai) remain important to Māori and are an integral part of manaakitanga (providing for others). Mahinga kai is central to Ngāi Tahu culture and identity, and its spiritual, social and economic wellbeing. As well as the actual resources themselves, it includes how resources are gathered and where they are gathered from. Mahinga kai encompasses the traditions and history of a place, and the tikanga or customs associated with food gathering that have been passed down through the generations. It is larger than just gathering resources, it also pertains to the intrinsic values of a place and a holistic approach to managing a site for now and for the future.

Mahinga Kai values in the Waiau

The Waiau River and catchment is an area highly valued by Ngāi Tahu and has been used for mahinga kai and navigation for hundreds of years. The Waiau River and adjacent areas were a significant resource for gathering kai and other materials and were well known to the earliest tūpuna (ancestors) to visit the area[1].

The 2005 Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu State of the Takiwā report on the Waiau River outlines the significance of this awa:

The Waiau, which once had the second largest flow of any river in New Zealand, had a huge influence on the lives and seasonal patterns of the people of Murihiku, over many generations. The river was a major mahinga kai: aruhe (fernroot), ti root, fish, tuna (eels), shellfish and tutu were gathered in the summer, a range of fish were caught in the autumn, kanakana (lamprey) were caught in the spring, while the people were largely reliant during winter on foods gathered and preserved earlier in the year. Rauri (reserves) were applied to the mahinga kai resources, so that people from one hapū or whānau never gathered kai from areas of another hapū or whānau. Some 200 species of plants and animals were utilised by Ngāi Tahu as a food resource in and near the Waiau.

The tūpuna had considerable knowledge of whakapapa, traditional trails and tauranga waka, places for gathering kai and other taonga, ways in which to use the resources of the Waiau, the relationship of people with the river and their dependence on it, and tikanga for the proper and sustainable utilisation of resources. All of these values remain important to Ngāi Tahu today.

[1] Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. 2005. State of the Takiwā – Te Āhuatanga o Te Waiau – Cultural Health Baseline Report 2005

This traditional concept represents kaitiakitanga (guardianship) from the mountains, down the rivers to hāpua (lagoons), wahapū (estuaries) and to the sea. Kaitiakitanga reflects the special relationship Ngāi Tahu has with its environmental heritage – this is fundamental to the iwi’s culture and identity.

Ki uta ki tai captures the need to recognize and manage the interconnectedness of the whole environment – ie, a whole-systems approach to the sustainable management of water. It also highlights the central importance of mahinga kai, the traditional seasonal food gathering rituals of Ngāi Tahu and the role this played in the traditional understanding and management of natural resources.

Header photo - Kererū in a Tī Kōuka tree, by Alex Holland