Food Provenance at Taste Nature Cafe

Season Soups, Salads & Smoothies

TE TIROHANGA WHANUI O TE HINONGA

Taste Nature is a Maori-led business working alongside the Taste Nature Social Enterprise Charitable Trust. 

From the Taste Nature Organic Garden in Waitati to our cafe, fresh, seasonally grown produce is delivered to become part of the daily cafe menu. Both organisations are deeply grounded in Matauranga Maori. Our food provenance project is aimed at improving community well-being and advancing environmental sustainability.

Our vision is to create a model for sustainable living and a social hub where the community gather, learns and grows. Our aim is to make healthy, organic food accessible, while creating a space that fosters education, collaboration, and creativity. This is driven by the principles of mannaakitanga (hospitality), kaitiakitanga (guardianship), and whanaungatanga (community connection).

The Urban Market Garden Project

Food Provenance at Taste Nature is an urban market garden project for the Taste Nature Café. Taste Nature will fund 3-4 market garden start-ups in Dunedin. We will deliver practical training and support for small scale urban market garden development. Produce grown from the market gardens will be supplied to the Taste Nature Café. Each grower will be paid wholesale prices for the produce purchased by the café, thereby establishing income-earning urban market garden

Our Food Provenance Project focuses on regenerative agriculture, creating a garden to plate model of sustainability that reduces waste and enhances local food security. By connecting our customers with all aspects of food provenance we promote sustainability, health and wellbeing at a very practical, engaging and social level. Food Provenance represents a visionary investment in a Māori-led social enterprise that integrates sustainability, education, and cultural empowerment. This next chapter for Taste Nature reinforces our long-standing commitment to regenerative systems and passion for local, sustainable food production. As this project grows, we are proposing further education programmes to be delivered under the Taste Nature Learning Community (TLC) education initiative. 

Through the Taste Nature Food Provenance Project, we invite the community to join us in a shared journey of rediscovery—where Māori values, regenerative practices and collective well-being come together to create a lasting legacy for both the people and the land.