Hard News by Russell Brown

Read Post

Hard News: Name That Food Blog

334 Responses

First ←Older Page 1 9 10 11 12 13 14 Newer→ Last

  • Geoff Lealand,

    Pretty sure it is. There is also a good study guide for teachers to go with it.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report

  • Gee, in reply to Islander,

    Canada, eh • Since May 2011 • 78 posts Report

  • Islander, in reply to Gee,

    Many thanks to you & Geoff!
    Will enjoy it again (I missed 3 episodes - now I realise how many there were.)And have bookmarked that site-

    today I've bookmarked 4 new sites, and enjoyed much on-line reading, as well as the rest of PAS.
    Ka mihi koa ki a Russell, everyone-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Richard Aston, in reply to Islander,

    Kai tangata
    Thanks Islander - I didn't know that either - does it matter which way round it goes
    tangata kai - same meaning ?

    Its probably a big question but did cannibalism have the stigma it does today for Maori of old ? It certainly carry's a huge amount of historical baggage worldwide and was also used to stigmatize cultural groups for political purposes.

    Northland • Since Nov 2006 • 510 posts Report

  • Islander, in reply to Richard Aston,

    tangata kai = human food (just as a combo – when you use the words in speech a whole lot more comes into play.)

    Richard, that’s a helluva interesting set of questions: briefly

    *cannabalism was used to extinguish mana, as well as provide a meal – so there was a very real (and permanant) stigma to having a tipuna who’d been eaten. It has been suggested that one of the reasons Christianity took off here was because that
    religion broke the power (in a lot of respects) of earlier systems…there is a story about a North Island ranking person who declared, as a child, after his father was eaten, that he would hunt down and eat all the eaters. He did so. Which kind of makes a lot of people who are Maori giggle & feel nervous, at the same time. It was a lose-lose game, utu built of utu, on utu, and no end to it-
    Christianity was a way out.

    The historical baggage I am well aware of , but almost all human groups have eaten other humans at some time or the other (check out Sawney Bean in Scotland! Yep, possibly mythical, buuuut- ) The stigmatisation was very real, paticularly with Maori (and Fijians), but it ignored the tapu bit…

    I have a select collection of recipes for cooking humans which I dont share with anyone-

    incidentally, the argument that “Maori only did it because their diet lacked protein/fat” is one of the silliest ever – the dietary in the South (and the North, but I dont know a lot about it) was so deliciously protein & fat-rich as to be a desiderium (and the fat was healthyhearty!)

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Danger,

    How about "Morepork"?

    Since Dec 2011 • 1 posts Report

  • Islander, in reply to Danger,

    "koukou" is the South Island name, "ruru" elsewhere...and your point was?

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Richard Aston,

    Thanks Islander ,
    "cannabalism was used to extinguish mana" that is one kick arse way of dealing with your enemies to be sure. I like it. The flaw, as you point out, is the endless layers of utu that follow. God I wonder how much of human history is based on that! Each generation remembers the wrongs eh.
    I reckon your right in saying all human groups have eaten other humans - a cursory reading of this shows we either ate our friends - to gain their mana or we ate our enemies to relinquish theirs. Aside from just basic hunger of course.
    Not sure if we have any history of eating others to simply acknowledge or celebrant their mana. I have always wondered about the deepness of cake eating and what it symbolises, seriously! I do a lot a fair amount ceremony and ritual in my life and never really got the strong importance people put on eating cake together withing ritual. Seems to be more than sharing food or breaking bread something liminal about it .
    Just wondering and realising I possibly got off the thread to the point of having left it completely.

    Northland • Since Nov 2006 • 510 posts Report

  • Islander, in reply to Richard Aston,

    Not sure if we have any history of eating others to simply acknowledge or celebrant their mana

    Certainly people in Papua-New Guinea did for family members!*
    Unfortunantly, they ate brains...

    They were also, among the many different tribes in many different areas, extremely efficient cannibals. Check out "Throw'em Way Leg" Tim Flannery-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Islander, in reply to Richard Aston,

    Cake eating?
    Have to think about that-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Tony Kennedy,

    Gruel – for the hard times, a nod in the direction of Mr Dickens and we always want just a little more.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 225 posts Report

  • Islander, in reply to Tony Kennedy,

    Gruel – oats&H2O&some fat(butter or crowdie mainly)& frequently kale & herbs – was a perfectly good brekkie!

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Islander, in reply to Islander,

    And still is! Add a couple of eggs, and that is my winter breakfast-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Islander, in reply to Islander,

    O & I frequently add smoked blue cod or eel or titi - in nice strips or fragments - because I'm lucky to have these delicacies, and they are very good for you in winter-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Islander, in reply to Richard Aston,

    something liminal about i

    That is what I am thinking about-

    life/death boundaries, and our attempts to negotiate between/around/above

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Richard Aston,

    Let them eat cake...

    Seems to be more than sharing food or
    breaking bread something liminal about it .

    icing the body electric...
    filling the interstices!


    more crumbs from the plane table...
    cake is cooking
    cooking is chemistry
    chemystery is life
    taste it
    savour yourself

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Danger,

    How about “Morepork”?

    mmmm Pork
    known now in our house as vitamin P

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    Owl to pay...

    How about “Morepork”?
    mmmm Pork
    known now in our house as vitamin P

    Is it salty like those 'Munton Birds'?

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Richard Aston, in reply to Islander,

    That is what I am thinking about-
    life/death boundaries, and our attempts to negotiate between/around/above

    And loss

    Northland • Since Nov 2006 • 510 posts Report

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to Richard Aston,

    Loss is the biggie, isn't it? Takes such a long time to come to terms with the concept that we all lose things/people. It was ever thus. And yet we continue to try to fight against it. Is that what gives us our humanity? I don't know.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report

  • Islander, in reply to Jackie Clark,

    That is one of those questions Jackie, that I've spent the last 53 years thinking about...other mammals (cant speak for fish or insects, but I'm pretty sure birds know loss & grief also) also know it, and can also die of it (elephants/chimps/dolphins we know about- )
    but is this 'try to fight against it'what gives us *our humanity*?
    Big-brained hierarchical dominance-seeking mammal with definite (but not unusual in other species) capacity for empathy/sympathy....capable of the worst atrocities our planet has known-

    dont know.
    Maybe never will...but I'll keep on thinking-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Che Tibby, in reply to Islander,

    indeed. 'what is humanity' is a question i've never really heard the answer to.

    i've often thought it was best defined by what it is not. it is not the want to cause pain, or to wilfully hurt. it is not the willingness to take a life without thought to consequence. it is not the empty accumulation of more than you need when others have to go without.

    i think you're humane when you understand why these types of actions are right or wrong.

    <2c>

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report

  • Islander, in reply to Che Tibby,

    i’ve often thought it was best defined by what it is not. it is not the want to cause pain, or to wilfully hurt. it is not the willingness to take a life without thought to consequence. it is not the empty accumulation of more than you need when others have to go without.

    i think you’re humane when you understand why these types of actions are right or wrong.

    Totally agree with that approach - BUT then
    we have to try and understand why a very large number of us just dont care/cant be bothered caring about this kind of right/wrong...

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Che Tibby, in reply to Islander,

    because they are inhumane.

    watched 'oranges and sunshine' just the other night. watch that, and try then tell me that the god-fearing people spoken of have a humanity worth a damn.

    (precis: 130,000 british children deported from "disgraceful" solo-parents families to australia between 1945 and 1970. the majority were locked in "orphanages". the rate of sexual, psychological and physical abuse - usually committed by clergy - was... appalling.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report

  • Islander, in reply to Che Tibby,

    o struth, I know something about that (one of my friends, dead just now, *was* one of those kids...)
    BUT - what makes us inhumane? Obviously drawing boundaries to exclude those we dont think of as human (I cant quite imagine this yet) but but but-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

First ←Older Page 1 9 10 11 12 13 14 Newer→ Last

Post your response…

This topic is closed.