Description:

The Manaaki Basket is a holistic approach to reducing food waste and establishing strong connections between local growers and their Communities. Food and living costs within New Zealand are at an all-time high, and the demand for fresh produce is rapidly increasing, rising costs increase the risk of unhealthy food behaviours. The current farm-to-plate framework amplifies the food miles and the accumulation of carbon-heavy effects, also limiting the quality of perishable foods with shorter shelf life. Consumers must be aware of the unsustainable timeline associated with purchasing produce. The Manaaki Basket uses a participatory programme to restrict this process. It uses traditional storage, honest construction practices and educational cooking rituals to re-create an ethical approach to the existing supermarket programme, partnering with local community farmers.

The exploration of the role of materials, senses, lighting, and openings in embodied experiences of space was the catalyst for five educational programmes that target specific communities within our neighbourhoods to connect us with our food. The histories, contexts, processes and qualities of construction materials were investigated to understand their ecological effects before, during and after construction. Prioritising the well-being of people and the environment, the structures utilise materials that reflect and care for the land in which our food is grown. These ecological strategies manifested into a garden shed, produce storage, a cooking program, a produce library and a farm break and visitor area. The repeated practice of cultivation, the sharing of food and culinary knowledge to be performed, learnt and taught within these ritual spaces is an exploration of designing with an embodied approach to foster re-connection with our produce.

The framework was developed by analysing Lake Horowhenua, local to my case study site of Levin, as an autonomous ecosystem network. The precolonial landscape was a natural food basket, with reciprocal relationships of care between the indigenous Māori people and the land. Healthy and diverse ecosystems ensured a plentiful source of nourishing food, supplemented by gardens. Post colonisation and the commodification of food, the drained wetlands and cleared forests are now home to monocultural produce farms, with the majority of produce exported to urban centres and offshore. This framework took to investigating it as a part of a wider scheme - looking at what community infrastructures exist within local horticultural neighbourhoods around New Zealand and what communities these facilitate. By recognising place, with community demographics and educational potential allowed for enhancing rituals within an existing programme. Each structure is designed to be self-sufficient for that community, the five programmes as a whole target the full scale vulnerability points of our dis connection with our food.