Gisborne cook Tihema Johnson has gone viral online by sharing affordable recipes. Photo / Zoe Mills
Gisborne cook Tihema Johnson has gone viral online by sharing affordable recipes. Photo / Zoe Mills
“Feed, G?” Tihema Johnson asks the camera as he stands behind a spread of chop suey, pani popo and foccacia bread.
In a video lasting one minute and 18 seconds, Gisborne-based Johnson has prepared the entire feast for just under $30.
He is appearing on a TikTok video thathas garnered over one million views in the past three months.
Tihema Johnson, known as @feed_g across social media, has made a name for himself on social media through creating budget eats and teaching dads that basic cooking skills can go a long way.
He started content creation in September of last year, thinking he’d just “give it a go”.
Johnson, who was born in Tairāwhiti (and affiliates to Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Kahungunu and Aitutaki Cook Islands), now boasts an impressive 100,000 followers across Facebook and Tiktok.
The majority of his content focuses on feeding families on a budget.
One video, titled Easy dinners for $4.43, has reached over 890,000 views on TikTok.
The demand for this type of content reflects a need in the community, Johnson says.
“It just really shows that there’s a struggle that a lot of people are going through.”
He’s “always known the struggle that’s especially in Tairawhiti - cost of living, food costs, getting jobs and that sort of stuff”.
Johnson, a father of two, has a 15-year-long career in hospitality and runs catering business Green Eyed Maori (GEM) with his fiancée, Renee.
Johnson’s most popular TikTok series, Dad’s Turn, came about after a friend told him her partner was keen on him putting together a cookbook of easy recipes for dads to follow.
The series, which covers everything from soups to sliders, is about normalising being a man and being able to cook and provide for the family, Johnson says.
“The ‘machoness’ of a man, that’s one aspect.”
Alongside fighting food insecurity, Johnson wants to show other men that upskilling in the kitchen is for everyone.
“How can I showcase me as a man, a Māori man, that I can cook for my whānau? It really is about manaakitanga [hospitality, kindness]. Sharing my knowledge, sharing what I know and helping people.”
Tihema Johnson preps a garnish for his latest creation. Photo / Zoe Mills
Food insecurity is a growing concern across the country.
The NZ Food Network, in its Hunger Report last month, said one in three households struggled with food costs in the past year.
“Food insecurity remains a continued growing concern across Tairāwhiti,” says Crystal Stankovich Te-Ua, the finance and operations manager at SuperGrans Tairāwhiti - a charity organisation based in Gisborne.
“We are seeing more whānau struggling with accessing affordable, nutritious kai, and many are having to make difficult trade-offs between kai, housing, power and now transport.”
SuperGrans distributes 30 kai parcels a day, reaching up to 300 people a week. Stankovich Te-Ua predicts this number will increase in the winter months.
Like Johnson, Stankovich Te-Ua says building confidence and upskilling is a way to help families manage with limited resources.
She says community workshops, focused on budget-friendly food, are popular and effective.
“We know that long-term solutions require collective action with communities, services and government agencies working together to support sustainable wellbeing for whānau.”
