Skip Content
Kai, kōrero and katakata

It started as a get-together for te reo Māori enthusiasts regularly catching up to share their two favourite things – kai (food) and kōrero (conversation).

Now kai kōrero includes pub get togethers, historical hīkoi, environmental restorations and karaoke reo Māori showdowns.

There’s even talk of speed dating – in te reo Māori – and coaching for comedians, also in Māori.

Kai kōrero started with a group of te reo Māori enthusiasts who meet every second Friday for parakuihi (breakfast) at Wellington’s Whare Waka café, where staff encourage patrons to kōrero Māori.

“We call it ‘te parakuihitanga o te reo’.” says Mikaere Paki, a te reo Māori kaiako at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa in Porirua.“One of my friends came up with the idea for a handful of us to get together and have breakfast – basically we kōrero Māori, have a kai and get smart to each other. But when I rolled up with 30 people it changed the dynamics of the kaupapa (idea).”

The kai kōrero kaupapa quickly proved popular but the people taking part didn’t want their get togethers to end there.

“So we decided to have paparakautatanga o te reo as well, where we chose a pub and gave that a go.”

With a bit of eating and drinking going on, Mikaere and the group quickly realised they needed to do a bit of exercise.

“So we came up with Te hīkoitanga o te reo, the idea was we establish some places to go for a walk around them and to talk about their history and iwi connections throughout the walk.”

“We’ve walked up Mātairangi (Mt Victoria) where the peak is Tangi te Kio. There’s Rangituhi here in Porirua and over in Waiwhetu, we go for walks up Pukeatua and around Te Pito-o-One (Petone).Kai Kōrero is a rumaki (total immersion) space that caters for all capabilities. Mikaere leads the tikanga aspects of the group get togethers and creates the context with mihi (acknowledgements) and karakia (incantations) specific to each event.

“Over time we have embedded different tikanga and tuakana (senior) teina (junior) dynamics you’d have in there. If we have new people we surround them with tuakana who’ve been there for while.”

Like its growing number of participants, the kai kōrero kaupapa is on the move.

There are now kai kōrero get togethers in Porirua, Waiwhetu and the Wairarapa, where the group are involved with riparian planting to help restore the degraded Lake Wairarapa.

Given their love of food, the kai kōrero group is also building relationships with different cafes and restaurants.

“We started interacting with businesses and translating menus. There’s a café out near Waiwhetu Marae, where we go once a month and here in Porirua where we go at least once a month.”

“We’ve also established a relationship with Knucklebones in the Wairarapa and the Green and White ribbon café in Raumati.”

Mikaere says the kaupapa also includes karaoke competitions – where singers have to translate popular songs in to te reo Māori on the fly.

There’s talk about coaching for impromptu comedians in te reo Māori and even speed dating, picnics and when COVID-19 restrictions eventually lift, cruises around the Pacific Islands.

“What I’m absolutely committed to doing is having te reo Māori normalised and having tikanga as the moral compass throughout Aotearoa,” says Mikaere.

“You see te reo Māori Facebook groups but they’re often just names on a page. We have a community of 1500 people who are physically turning up to all of these events – and more than half of these people are Pākeha.”

 Back to news & events

Published On: 22 October, 2020

Article By: James Ihaka



Other Articles

  • 28 September 2023

    Te Wānanga o Aotearoa kaiako attending 2023 Toi Kiri Festival in Tauranga

    Te Wānanga o Aotearoa will attend the prestigious Toi Kiri World Indigenous Arts Festival in Mt Maunganui for the first time this year. Eight kaiako (teachers) will participate in the festival, which gathers indigenous artists from around the world to showcase their art.

  • 25 September 2023

    Tūwhitia Symposium drives student success for underserved learners

    This week Te Wānanga o Aotearoa will host organisations from across the tertiary sector as they come together for the second annual Tūwhitia Symposium, where they will discuss and explore ways that work towards the continued drive of positive outcomes for underserved learners in Aotearoa.

  • 25 September 2023

    Oranga Tamariki continues to improve Māori cultural capability with support from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa

    With the support of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Oranga Tamariki is making a continuous and conscious effort to strengthen the knowledge and respect for Māori culture amongst their kaimahi, as well as a commitment to better fulfil their Tiriti o Waitangi obligations.

  • 06 September 2023

    Mahuru Māori challenge aligned with maramataka

    The Mahuru Māori challenge is just around the corner, but what does this mean and who can get involved?