In my Pākehā family food is love. You prepare food for others when you are celebrating,
when you are grieving and when communities come together. Different foods hold different
meanings. Comfort food is all about chocolate and carbohydrates. Pākehā funerals require
asparagus rolls, sausage rolls and lamingtons. When you have big numbers, it is all about
volume, pace and agility in the wharekai. As a committed vegetarian and foodie, it makes
sense that my activism at some point would intersect with my love of food.
Earlier in the year we set up the Radical Kitchen Crew – a national network committed to the
kaupapa of solidarity through comfort food, fellowship and the art of turning up in difficult
times. We baked for a Māori-led Crown agency that got shut down earlier in the year, we
baked for a Māori professor after her funding was cut for speaking truth to power.
Today we were out in the field again in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton
baking for our comrades in the union movement. The folks that have been picking up the
pieces of the carnage of the cuts to the public sector. We whipped up a range of tasty treats
– with consideration of folks with special diets. The recipients were emailed to the staff room
for a surprise and their smiles when they saw our offerings – banners (from the Radical
Sewing Circle) and kai - were heart-warming.
I cried as I explained why we were there and thanked the crew for their mahi. Having been
made redundant more than once I deeply appreciate the work union organisers and
delegates do to protect and advance the aspirations of workers. As we navigate the hurdles
ahead there will be more baking, more comfort food, more solidarity and more turning up.
If you love kai and want to be part of our network scan the QR code and dust off those pots
and pans.
Amy’s Jaffa Brownies
150 gr butter or olivani 110 gr dark cooking chocolate 3 large eggs 1 ½ cups sugar 2 tsp vanilla essence Zest of two oranges
½ cup walnuts 1 cup flour
Preheat oven to 180˚C. Cube the butter and chocolate into a med sized saucepan, melt butter and soften chocolate over low heat. Remove from heat and stir until smooth and combined. Add the eggs, sugar, vanilla and orange zest and stir until well mixed (you can add in walnuts now on put them on the top after you've poured in the mix). Sift in the flour and fold together without over mixing. Spread into a 20x20 cm (lined with baking paper and sides sprayed with oil) square cake pan bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the middle of the brownie is firm. Cool in the pan and then cut into pieces and transfer. Dust with icing sugar.
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