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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background
Before the primary settlement of Aotearoa, New Zealand by Europeans,
around 1840, the taewa was a staple food crop of the Maori people.
Commonly known as Maori potatoes, taewa (Solanum spp.) are also referred
to by a number of generic names which vary according to tribal dialect around
the country (peruperu, parareka, mahetau and riwai). There are a number of
different beliefs regarding the origin of taewa in New Zealand and the route
they took to get here. Many Maori believe that there were cultivars of taewa
here before European explorers; however it is acknowledged that a number of
varieties arrived with the first European explorers such as Cook in 1769 and
subsequently with visiting whalers and sealers in the latter part of the
eighteenth century (Roskruge, 1999: 1).
Taewa or Maori potato ultimately replaced (or displaced) traditional crops
such as kumara and aruhe (fern-root) as the primary carbohydrate and
subsistence crop produced by Maori for their own use (Yen, 1961;
Hargreaves, 1963), some calling it the “greatest gift of the European to the
Maori agriculturalist… which by 1835 was much more in use than any native
vegetable” (Hargreaves, 1963: 103). However, with the introduction of
preferred varieties from England and Australia during the latter part of the
nineteenth century, many earlier taewa became relegated to the gardens of
marae (formal Maori meeting venues) and have largely been grown in this
typically non-commercial fashion until recent times.
Despite the significant drop-off in taewa production through time, the
importance of this horticulture in Maori society cannot be underestimated. In
their subsistence economy, communal societies such as pre-European Maori
viewed crop production as an integral part of the survival of the community.
Roskruge (1999: 30) identifies several key points concerning the social
aspects of producing taewa crops for Maori:
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