1 NZ may be a small country, but in the wider world, what we do, use and consume affects lives everywhere. So I'm on a mission to see how we're treating our backyards, both here and further afield. What are we doing to be cleaner and greener? What do we need to change? And what does the future hold? So join me, Te Radar, as I go global. Don't worry ` I'll plant plenty of trees to offset the travel. Now, where's my passport? Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2013 SPRINKLER WHOOSHES NZ used to be a grow-your-own kind of nation, because we had no choice. But nowadays most people just go to the supermarkets, who buy the food from suppliers, who source it from... well, goodness only knows where. If you grow it, you know it ` how it was grown and with what. But that's a luxury most people don't have when it comes to their kai. I'm often surprised at how much food we import, given that our country has such an abundance of fertile land. So, with local food in mind, I'm helping Fruit Trees for Auckland plant a veritable orchard in a local park. Apparently a square hole is a lot better for a round plant, because it lets the roots to run off and find little corners, whereas if we put a round plant in a round hole, the roots continue to go around. That's something I've learned this morning ` you can teach an old dog new tricks,... if the dog is willing to learn them. I do love a mandarin. So, there we go. Only another 79 to go. Go well, little tree. Feed the children, their grasping little hands. ARCHIVE: School lunches are inspected periodically, and nurse follows up with a talk on good nutrition. Realistic food models are used for demonstrations. Lectures to parents' associations on health and diet problems of children are well received. Parents are keenly interested and find these talks very helpful. DOOR RATTLES BUOYANT MUSIC (SIGHS) I think that makes it smoko time. Just purchased a burger from my local burger joint, which I guess technically means it's local food. Although the real question is how many of the ingredients are actually local? The pickles are from India. The pineapple's from Thailand. The beef might be local, but what about the garlic that flavours it? As it's cheaper from China, it's likely that'll be where it's from. The sesame seeds are courtesy of our trans-Tasman neighbours, and the HP Sauce is from Holland. So I guess it's hardly local fare, but if there's anything we can take away from this, it's that Mum was right ` you really shouldn't play with your food. I've deconstructed my dinner. Don't think I'll bother reconstructing it ` just have it as is. It's the new thing, deconstructed food. It's all the rage. And, given the outrage in the UK over their horse burgers, it's no surprise people want to know where their food comes from. Oritain is a company specialising in spotting food fraud ` especially food masquerading as ours. They map produce at an atomic level, as Rebecca is about to show me. Hey, Radar. Hey, Radar. Hello, Rebecca. What's happening in here? This is where we've brought our samples to get analysed. They get brought into solutions. So, these are asparagus seed extracts. What? > What? > And they then get analysed through this big, fancy machine. They don't make them sexy, do they? The Octopole Reaction System ` there's not a lot of lights and carry-on. I'm waiting for a fax to come out of it. BOTH LAUGH This machine can measure things down to the parts-per-billion, parts-per-trillion range. And from that you can tell what? We can tell the concentrations of between 20 and 40 different elements that originally come from the soil and get taken up by the plant and are present in the seed. That indicates back to where the seed was grown. So, for meat, for example, we can actually get it right down to what farm an animal was raised on. Um, with seeds, we can` we can get a Canterbury signal, NZ signal, and then that's really distinct from any other country that we've ever measured, and that's because of the climate in NZ ` a lot of the, um, isotopes that we measure are influenced by` by the atmosphere and the weather, then our soils and our geological make-up give us the unique trace element ` the fingerprint ` as well. What's the future? Lasers. Lasers are the future, so then we're not limited to getting things into solutions. We hope that, in the near future, we'll be able to take a single seed, fire a laser at it and figure out where it's from. Oritain's HQ is in Mosgiel, and that's where NZ's honey vault is. It contains nationwide samples of our liquid gold, catalogued and banked to help stop honey fraud. It's the brainchild of Helen Darling. We can't show you into our honey vault, because unauthorised personnel aren't allowed in there, which is me and you. which is me and you. Even though you run the company? which is me and you. Even though you run the company? I know. It's rough. Obviously, that's not the honey vault ` it's a bit more sophisticated than a file box. Essentially, this is creating a database of NZ honey. If we needed to look at a honey that turned up in our international marketplace, we have some reference data to look at it. We've been asked to speak to a honey smuggler ` he was trying to work out how to get around our system. There's that much money in it that someone will be a honey smuggler? There's that much money in it that someone will be a honey smuggler? Huge money in it. It's very serious. If we can't protect the NZ industry, then it's very vulnerable. All it will take is one rogue player to put something in a jar and say it's from NZ, and it kills somebody or hurts somebody. Then it's the whole of the NZ brand that's damaged. And I guess we saw that with the` the melamine scandal in` in China. And I guess we saw that with the` the melamine scandal in` in China. Exactly. Exactly. > So, you know, we don't know what's gonna be the next melamine. No. No. The opportunity does exist for us to protect brand NZ, or NZ Inc, by having this reference data that you can check things against when and if there is a problem. Do you have to put yourself into the mindset of a criminal? You do have to think, 'What are the gaps in the supply chain?'. So if somebody was gonna be devious, where would they be devious? And then we want to have reference set for reference data from before that point of deviousness, so to speak. So, yeah. so to speak. So, yeah. If they're sitting at home going 'hmm', stroking a cat. (CHUCKLES) Yeah, yeah. (CHUCKLES) Yeah, yeah. 'What to do with honey?' (CHUCKLES) Out there somewhere, as we speak, honey criminals are perpetrating their fraud. Yep. (CHUCKLES) They're laundering. Yep. (CHUCKLES) They're laundering. Honey laundering. Outrageous. NZ's food purity is literally our economic meal ticket, but just as crucial are the varieties of food grown, which is why I'm off to Peru to find out what the humble potato can teach us about the importance of biodiversity. But first, a little local food, in the form of Peru's national dish. Ah, gracias. Ooh, it's come with its little feet. This is great. I'm a fan of preparing animals with the feet on as a reminder of what they were, and they have thoughtfully left not only the feet, but also the head. That is a guinea pig. When it comes to food miles, uh, this particular guinea pig has travelled from there... just into there, and now back out to here again. So that really` that really is a distance of metres. That is eating local. GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC Very gamy. Little bit like, um,... rabbit. I'm in Lima, Peru, taking a quick Spanish lesson from translator Cesar to improve my Peruvian. CROONS: Buenos dias. Mi nombre es Radar. That's good. That's good. (SPEAKS SPANISH HALTINGLY) Me gustan tus ojos. Me gustan tus ojos. Perfect. We're headed for the potato fields around Cusco, but we've gotten sidetracked by a side dish. For many Peruvians, the perfect accompaniment to potatoes is the guinea pig. On the outskirts of Lima, Carmen and her husband Ulysses' guinea-pig farm not only puts food on the table ` it also provides a useful by-product. Because of the manure, actually not because of the meat of the guinea pig, but because of the manure ` that's what they looked for when they start this farm, because she says this manure has enormous power, energy ` that's why they wanted this manure from these guinea pigs. Do they taste different? Do they taste different? No, no. (SPEAKS SPANISH) No. (SPEAKS SPANISH) Tasting comes from the feeding. We actually do not feed them with these artificial fatteners, because the tasting of the meat is not really good. She is going to catch him. GUINEA PIG SQUEALS GUINEA PIG SQUEALS This is her power stud. A ginger power stud ` it's not often you hear that. It's a bit like that. ALL LAUGH ALL LAUGH Yeah, pretty much. Guinea pigs produce a surprising amount of high-potency poo. Rather than waste that waste, Ulysses is harnessing the resulting methane. This is the manure of these guinea pig's manure. See? This is the shit of the conejillo. This is warm because of the activity of the microorganisms. We build this biodigester ` Chinese model. This is a stomach. It needs lunch. Yes. So we prepare a cream ` very delicious cream ` with guinea pig shit and water. And feed through this mouth. And feed through this mouth. And then it sort of farts out biogas? Right. Right. Just like a stomach. The microorganisms eat this manure and produce gasses, and then these gasses used to cook and for lighting. Right, and have you done anything to that? That comes straight out of there, straight in the pipe, out like that. And then, here, this gas, we also transform it into light. Ah. > Ah. > See? Look at that. That's just poo gas. Poo gas. Poo gas. All over the world right now, there's a whole lot of manure going to waste. Right. All those guinea pigs busy going about their business to produce heat and flame, and the irony is I suspect that many of them are then cooked on said flame. South America was the birthplace of the potato, and Cusco's hills are home to thousands of different kinds. We're used to a couple of standard varieties, but relying on so few leaves us vulnerable to pests or disease wiping them out. I'm on my way to Peru's potato park, but my potato pilgrimage is a little stymied by some kind of festival. UPBEAT FESTIVAL MUSIC PLAYS WOMEN SING Peru's potato park is 4000m above sea level. That's higher than Mt Cook. Here they continue to grow thousands of varieties of potatoes each season ` that's the only way to keep them all in existence. And they aren't just food ` they're used for religious ceremonies, treating illnesses, and even for finding a wife. Already I've achieved a better harvest than I did with my last potato crop, and I've only been going for a couple of minutes. (GRUNTS) Mama's beating me. Well, she can probably do this all day ` dug for five minutes and I'm ready for a meal of potatoes. And what's absolutely amazing is you can look up a` all of these hillsides, right up almost to the ridge line ` there's more of these crops, all planted by hand, harvested by hand. This is, um, a lot of hard yakka. It's little wonder they need a high-carb diet. You have to soak this one for a week before you can eat it? You have to soak this one for a week before you can eat it? Yeah. Hmm. And when you do, is it nice? Good potato? Yeah. ALL SPEAK SPANISH Wow. 1350, just in this park. That's a lot of potatoes. Um, we don't have potatoes like this is in NZ. What` What is this one? (CHUCKLES) So like a` like a test for` a test for a wife. Oh, I have to have the skin. Drink the water as well? That seems like a good idea. I'll remember that. Not really sure what I expected from potato park. I was pretty sure I wouldn't be toured around a manicured lawn on a little train with carriages shaped like different potatoes. It's not kiwifruit world. I seem to be covering a lot of the fruit-and-vegetable-themed parks of the world. What I did see was a lot of people working incredibly hard. It's a pretty harsh way to make a living, bending over like that and harvesting potatoes, but I guess at the end of the day you can have a hearty bowl of potato soup. I don't think I'm gonna look at potatoes the same way again. It's easy to forget you're at an altitude until you attempt to do something such as stand up or walk ` then you become a little bit breathless. Hope I don't suffer brain damage. How would you know? (CHUCKLES) Just be content to snuggle down under my alpaca-themed blanket. I really hope that somewhere along the way I can buy a jersey that matches this blanket. That'd be awesome. Just gonna probably lie here and dream of a nimble-handed woman who can peel a bride's potato. Never really thought potatoes would be that racy. 1 While normal tourists flock to the Incan ruins at Machu Picchu, I was content to simply peruse Peru's potato park. Turns out I wasn't the first NZer to pop in. The locals told me about Rob, who'd been there to study the ways indigenous food helps to preserve culture, so I'm off to see Rob in Whakatane to talk taters. There's more to these potatoes than meets the eye. There is, man. They call them Maori potatoes, but they came with the early Europeans, and they came form Peru originally, so they've been halfway around the world. They had, you know, interesting names ` 'tutaekuri' is one. You heard that name before? Well, I've heard the words, but I haven't heard` haven't heard the name applied. So, essentially 'dog` dog poo'. So, essentially 'dog` dog poo'. Yeah, dog poo. A descriptive name. Is that anything to do with the taste? Uh, ooh. That` It doesn't taste like that when I've eaten it. Uh, 'urenika' is another one. See, that's a far more interesting name than agria, you know. I think so. I think so, man. Definitely, definitely. When you look at a potato or kumara, what do you see? What do I see? What do I see? Yeah. I don't see something that just fills my stomach. I think that's the` you know, the nature of all` all living things ` that they have an essence and, um, I think sometimes in the` the` the commercial world around food production, we forget that. We've been distanced from it, so that, you know, it's not in our vision. It's not in our awareness. There's people that maintain, um, heirloom varieties. There's people that maintain, um, traditional varieties of kumara, you know. The kumara's interesting, because there was a guy in the '60s who went around the Pacific and around South America and around NZ, looking for traditional varieties ` old varieties ` because this, uh, new variety had come in. When he left his job at the DSIR, um, they said they wouldn't keep this whole collection, so a Japanese organisation said, 'Oh, we'll take it.' So the whole collection got taken off to Japan, and so they had to go to Japan to bring them back. So six of those traditional varieties they brought back from Japan in the early '90s, and they've spread around the countries through ` through Maori and Pakeha networks. And` And oddly fitting in some ways that` that journey has encompassed almost the entire Pacific, from South America, all the way up to Japan, all the way down to NZ. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the journey of the kumara. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the journey of the kumara. One of the things that, you know, it's easy to forget in this day and age is that, you know, food does have that special position. You know, cultures are built around it, or through it. There are, you know, parts of society, I think, which feel that sense of connection, but they don't have that cultural reference in the same way that those communities back in Europe, who are still growing those, or Maori communities here. These days we take it for granted that science and industrial agriculture will provide us with a plentiful supply of food. For pre-European Maori, a successful kumara harvest may have meant the difference between life and death. As befitted a crop so crucial, everything from the seed to the ground to the worker was tapu and swathed in ritual. In some cases, the penalty for breaching protocol was death, which makes me pretty glad that it wasn't my job to tend the sacred spuds. I'm even gladder that we live in a world with more than one variety of potato. Someone else who's keen on variety is Waata, another Whakatane local who's encouraging both local food and biodiversity. You know, you'll go to a supermarket and they'll have pretty much exactly the same thing. I've come in here and already I've seen stuff that I didn't even know existed, like garlic flowers. Exactly. Those are apple cucumbers. Those are apple cucumbers. Apple cucumbers, mate. Yeah. You only get an apple cucumber when your mum turns up ` 'here's a bag of apple cucumbers.' That's the same as when we used to garden with` with my koro in the gardens, you know ` you'd always have apple cucumbers. Add a bit of water and vinegar with a little bit of onion, add that together ` mate, it's just a beautiful, uh, easy type of salad, especially during the summertime. Yeah, nah, you don't get to see, uh, many apple cucumbers, but, you know, we'll get those locally grown ` 35% of our shop in here is actually local product. We're proud of that, and we're looking at, over the next year or two, to increase that and create our own infrastructure for Top of the Crop. Good thing about it is that it's not travelling from afar ` it's just down the road, and you're getting it almost the same day. Can't get fresher than that. Uh, local kamo kamo, which is grown just down the road. So, that's the real traditional kamo kamo, not the hybrid stuff. I see the bread there ` I don't imagine many people are stocking that. Oh, mate, the old rewena bread. With 45% of the population here being Maori, we go through a lot, and that's locally made in Te Teko, just outside of Whakatane ` about 10, 20 minutes away. And that just flies out the door, mate. It's a beautiful, traditional, indigenous bread. Waata's passion for produce came from learning to garden here at Te Pahou Marae. It's almost as if the, uh, marae grounds were colonised by corn. Well, basically, till the farmer decided enough's enough, really, and trying to get back to how we traditionally were and growing our own kai. So, when you were a kid, if you were standing here, what would you have seen? Just maize, complete maize. That's all that we ever saw as` as kids ` it was just purely maize, which is, you know, obviously not beneficial for` for our people. No. There's only so much maize you can eat. No. There's only so much maize you can eat. Well, that's right. (CHUCKLES) It's nice to see that there's kumara here and that maize is slowly being pushed back. This has been a long time coming, but now we know we've got the resources and the capability to do it, why not? It's here. WOMAN CALLS KARANGA The whenua's here to grow those veggies, and how much more sustainable can that be? Uncle doesn't seem to like wearing shoes. Nah, mate, he doesn't wear shoes. I've never seen my uncle in a pair of shoes. Very, very staunch, um, to his kaupapa and keeping ground with Papatuanuku, so obviously nothing between his feet ` feels that grass or mud or whatever through his feet; stones. Takes that concept of your feet firmly planted in the earth literally. Right. Haere mai ki tenei tipuna o Rangataua e apo nei te kaupapa o te ra. Who would have ever thought that the biodiversity of potatoes would be so entertaining and thought-provoking? Strikes me as incredible that there could be this variety of potatoes ` a` a bride's potato, a potato for hangovers, a` a` a healing potato, a potato for strength, yet hundreds and hundreds of different varieties, and yet, what do we have? A boiling potato or a roasting potato. I feel as if somehow we're missing out on something. What I'm not missing is the importance of protecting the quality and diversity of our local food. People say we are what we eat, but perhaps it's also fair to say that we are what we grow. So here's hoping we continue to grow richer and more diverse. And now to sleep. Perchance to dream of sweet, sweet potatoes in all their many and glorious forms. Baked potatoes, boiled potatoes, the mashed potato, the French fry. Potato salad. Oh, and then of course there's that French thing, where you slice them and you put them in a creamy sauce. That's fancy. Oh, there's a hash brown. Captions by Lauren Strain. Edited by Richard Edmunds. www.tvnz.co.nz/access-services Join me next week for a peek at some green design ideas, including turning old tyres, cans and bottles into houses of the future, and meet a chap from Kapiti who uses a pile of rocks to air-condition his home. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2013