IWI NOW
Iwi was established to support the indigenous food producers of New Zealand.
Our products, which include fresh milk, Mānuka honey, seafood and nutraceuticals, are nutritious, safe and (best of all) delicious.
In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means 'peoples' or ‘nations', and is often translated as ‘tribe’, or confederation of tribes. There are many iwi throughout New Zealand. And among them are boutique producers of premium food products. The Iwi brand was established to support these producers and introduce their products to the world.
In modern-day New Zealand, iwi groups have exercised significant political power in the recovery and management of land, in maintaining foreshore assets and in exercising fishing rights. The bountiful produce which comes from the land and sea is a product of traditional Māori farming practices, built on sustainability and respect for the land and its flora and fauna. Combine that ancient knowledge and wisdom with New Zealand’s pristine pastures and waterways and you understand why the Iwi brand was created. The safety, certainty and clean, green credentials are what informed consumers are looking for.
IWI THEN
Māori have a long history of plant and animal husbandry, beginning when Māori ancestors brought edible plants to Aotearoa (New Zealand) from their homelands. These included kūmara, yams, taro and tī pore (Cordyline fruticosa), a species of cabbage tree. Māori found the New Zealand climate significantly colder than where the plants had evolved, but being enormously resourceful, and having significant skills in agriculture, developed sophisticated techniques for adapting these plants to their new environment. Huge communal māra (gardens) were planted, sometimes with gravel, sand, shell and charcoal added to the soil. Plants were also grown using hue (gourds) as containers.
Some native trees, flax and flowering shrubs were brought into cultivation closer to human settlements to attract birds. Many stands of the native cabbage tree tī kōuka (Cordyline australis) can still be seen where they were once deliberately planted. New Zealand’s original dense native bush, and its ferns, vines, palms, fungi, berries, fruit and seeds became important foods. Aruhe – the rhizomes of the bracken fern (Pteridium esculentum) – were especially important to Māori. Eighteenth-century botanist Joseph Banks wrote that it was ‘the foundation of their meals.’
Shellfish included tuatua, toheroa, pipi, tuangi, pāua, kina, titiko (mud snails), pūpū (cat’s eyes) and kuku or kākahi (mussels). Although fishing was largely a male activity, shellfish gathering was traditionally a job for women. Each tribe had its own named fishing grounds and diving rocks protected by kaitiaki (guardians). These sites were very important, and in some cases tapu (sacred) to the tribes, which relied on them for their survival.
Māori drank fresh water and, for medicinal purposes, tonics made from seaweed, berries, fruits and leaves steeped in water. They used no alcohol or tobacco and did not regularly consume any stimulants, although special plant concoctions are known to have been drunk by warriors preparing for battle.*
This long heritage of using native produce to sustain communities continues today, but with a difference. Through Iwi partner producers, consistent year-round supply of safe, sustainably-produced, premium food products can be brought to consumers around the globe.
*REFERENCE: TeAra The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.