‘It’s a Living, Breathing Entity’

Food Reciprocity and Sustainability in Early Childhood Care and Education in Aotearoa New Zealand

“…And I think, you know, the fact that we’ve concentrated on local Māori myths and legends and things that whānau had knowledge of, it's made the learning more real to them [the families/whānau] and they can relate more to what we’re doing. (As cited in Kelly et al, 2013, p. 53)…”

“…This section draws upon data from four recent research projects from Aotearoa New Zealand, and aims to illustrate ways in which Māori perspectives have informed food-related sustainability practices in a range of early childhood care and education settings (for full explanations of participating early childhood centres, methodologies and findings please see the original reports: Kelly et al, 2013; Ritchie et al, 2010; Ritchie & Rau, 2006, 2008).…”

“…Five weeks after the grounding of the Rena , a focus group discussion was recorded as part of a research project focused on early childhood care and education centres providing children with access to wild spaces such as the ngāhere (indigenous bush; Kelly et al, 2013). During this discussion, a teacher described how the children's and families’ responses, which were grounded in Māori conceptualisations, had resulted in the collection of donated food at the centre, which was then distributed to the volunteers working on the Rena clean-up: We spoke to the children about it and said, ‘You know, what can we do to help?’ and the first thing they said was ‘kai’ [food].…”

“…This article revisits four recent research projects (Kelly et al, 2013; Ritchie et al, 2010; Ritchie & Rau, 2006, 2008) in order to further illuminate ways in which early childhood care and education settings are offering support and sanctuary to families via everyday pedagogical practices sourced in Māori values such as manaakitanga (caring, hospitality, generosity) and whanaungatanga (relatedness). It considers ways in which these practices offer counter-narratives to the individualistic, profit-oriented, greed-aggregating practices of the neo-liberal capitalist project, instead demonstrating that early childhood care and education settings have potential to serve as sites for rebuilding a sense of community through shared endeavours such as gardening, sharing of produce, and caring for Papatūānuku (Earth Mother).…”

“…The purpose of this article is to retheorise data from several recent New Zealand studies (Kelly et al, 2013; Ritchie, Duhn, Rau, & Craw, 2010; Ritchie & Rau, 2006, 2008). It explores ways in which educators, children and families of the early childhood care and education settings were engaged in regular practices of growing, harvesting and preparing food from their centres’ gardens, often informed by traditional Māori views, and the ways in which these practices extended out to and involved the wider community in this endeavour, which, in most cases, side-stepped the consumerist economy.…”