he pātaka: a storehouse raised upon posts, a pantry or larder. The essential ingredients, food from many, and for many. Traditionally, a plentiful pātaka signified status and wealth, and the more ornately carved pātaka further symbolised the prestige of the iwi. In our family, it’s not so much about how much food you have in your storehouse, but what you do with it. I consider our pātaka to not be a physical building, but a food supply from many, and for many. Whether it be vegetables from family members’ gardens, fruit from friends’ trees, baking from an aunty’s kitchen, jars of pickle from Uncle Sam, freshly caught crayfish from a brother-in-law, rēwena bread and freshly picked watercress from a colleague, or wild
