Healthy living initiative reaches beyond gang

GOOD FOOD: Breakfast this morning as posted on the Facebook page set up by Putahi Kani of Wairoa. The initiative has attracted nearly 40,000 members and that number is growing as people share their efforts to make healthier choices. Facebook pictures

A social media page promoting healthier choices over a lifetime of diabetes and obesity, has been created in Wairoa.

Initiated by Putahi Kani of Wairoa in July, the Facebook group has more than 39,000 members and that number is climbing.

Mr Kani, who is a member of the Barbarians, a chapter of the Mongrel Mob, said the idea came while he was cooking meals which featured on other food pages.

“I started my own page because I didn’t like the stereotype that others projected about our whanau,” he said.

“These ideas were affecting how we saw ourselves and I wanted that mindset to change, so I set up my own page.”

Initially for mob members and their families, the page exceeded expectation, attracting non-mob members from New Zealand and across the Tasman.

“It is now a community page.

Mr Kani said the page was born of necessity and to refute negative attitudes towards the Maori diet.

“There were heaps of pages showing Maori and Pacific Islanders stuffing their faces so I decided to change that perspective.”

Claiming to be the “mightiest cooking show in the nation”, Mr Kani invited people to live up to the expectation and post their healthy living, healthy food choices and healthy recipes.

“We are trying to get our whanau away from the takeaway life.

“Takeaway food is the leading factor in obesity in Aotearoa.

“This is about getting people back into home cooking.

“Ditch takeaways in exchange for smoothies and other healthier food.

“It is about more than just healthy eating.

“We are trying to promote healthier lifestyles.

“Spending time in the kitchen can be a whanau thing, right down to washing the dishes and cleaning up afterwards.”

Members of the social media site post recipes, videos and ideas that promote “healthy cooking and cooking in the household”.

They showcase photos of their latest meals, the most popular being kaimoana (seafood)-based recipes, including prawn bagels and salmon wings.

Other meals include the unusual mix of kiwifruit and cheese on toast, as well as chicken and tuna salads and photos of fresh crayfish and other seafood.

Some members request recipes for a tight budget, others challenge the group’s administrators to cook menus with a financial limit and others just query the healthy alternatives parents can cook that children will like.

The page is broader than just recipes, with Mr Kani saying they were hitting subjects that were real within their community.

“Fry your food not yourself” is the anti-methamphetamine motto the group endorses.

“It is better to have someone who has lived the life and survived push the message than someone who has not. Keep it real.

“Yeah, we cook meals on tight budgets, hit subjects we ourselves have lived through and surround our community members with positive things we are doing.

“It works because the face is familiar, the face is real.”

Although still under consideration, the future for the initiative may include a pataka kai (food cupboard) to facilitate food swapping in the community.