Cheap, processed, imported and low-quality foods were the only accessible options for people in low-paid work. Photo / 123RF
Cheap, processed, imported and low-quality foods were the only accessible options for people in low-paid work. Photo / 123RF
In the latest episode of her Chewing the Facts podcast, Sasha Borissenko looks at fatness, the role of colonisation, and how the change in our food environment is disproportionately affecting some of Aotearoa’s communities.
It’s no secret that Polynesian people have suffered the most from our unhealthy food system.
The latest New Zealand Health Survey says one in three adults aged 15 and over are classified as obese using the body mass index.
This rate rises sharply to 71 per cent among Pacific people and almost 51 per cent for Māori.
Speaking in the latest episode of Chewing the Facts, South Auckland business owner Ema Tavola said that, although food was a big part of ritual, celebration and connection, it wasn’t correct to simply say Pacific people loved eating.
“Colonisation and capitalism have created systems that are killing us.”
Pointing to her homeland of Fiji, she said migration to the city and the introduction of European economies meant there was no longer time to harvest or create a garden.
“If you take anyone out of that system, they’re going to have to find nourishment in other ways. If they’re working 40, 50, 60 hours a week, what are you going to eat that’s easy or can fit around that finite time that you have?”
Cheap, processed, imported and low-quality foods were the only accessible options for people in low-paid work.
A big part of the problem was the export of canned and ultra-processed foods to the Pacific, which first gained popularity in the early 1890s.
In 2007, New Zealand exported nearly 40,000 tonnes of mutton flaps – fat trimmings from a sheep’s belly – with 19 per cent going to Pacific countries.
The situation was also dire in South Auckland.
“A lot of our fruit and veg shops are selling low-grade, poor-quality produce. It’s cheaper because it’s largely produce which you wouldn’t find in a supermarket. And a lot of it is quite close to expiration,” Tavola said.
Every second shop in Ōtara-Papatoetoe offered takeaway food options, she said. Then there were the liquor stores, gambling outlets and even a headstone shop,
“It’s like death, dying, gone. You know, this is what social deprivation is.”
Unhealthy food options are everywhere in South Auckland, says Eva Tavola.
A 2017 study found Aotearoa had 722 “food swamps” – areas that are inundated with unhealthy food options. Convenience stores and fast-food outlets were significantly higher in economically deprived areas, according to the study.
Many critics have accused fast-food chains such as McDonald’s of targeting poor suburbs – a claim strongly denied by McDonald’s head of communications Simon Kenny.
He said the global chain had restaurants in both high and low socio-economic areas and locations were determined by factors such as visibility, traffic accessibility, population size and potential competition. The company made sure to avoid locations near schools, for example.
“We definitely refute any accusations that we sit there all day at work going, how do you build more restaurants in a poor area? But I don’t disagree that ... there are definitely way more food outlets in certain areas.”
McDonald’s head of communications Simon Kenny says the restaurant chain does not target poor suburbs.
There are 78 local, regional and unitary councils each with different rules and regulations that can determine zoning for certain business operations.
Auckland Council environmental health and alcohol manager Mervyn Chetty said there were no rules or regulations limiting the number of fast-food outlets in specified locations in the region.
“Unlike other aspects of councils’ environmental health responsibilities, there is no legislative framework that would enable this type of regulation.”
The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012, for example, covers the safe and responsible sale, supply and consumption of alcohol and the minimisation of harm caused by its excessive or inappropriate use.
It gives councils the ability to restrict the sale and supply of alcohol in certain areas. But there is no such legislation relating to food.
A Department of Internal Affairs spokesperson told Chewing the Facts the Government could issue national requirements, or directives, to councils. However, there was no national direction about high concentrations of fast-food outlets.
Local Government Minister Keiran McAnulty declined to comment.
Chewing the Facts episodes are out every Sunday. Produced with the NZ Herald, with support from NZ On Air.
