Through a series of Kai Conversations events held across West Auckland in 2025, Kai West created a space for honest kōrero about lived experiences, challenges and possibilities. The report draws on these voices to shape a collective vision for the future of food in the area.

We welcomed koanga, the spring growing season, by coming together at Te Piringatahi o te Maungarongo Marae in West Harbour for our latest Tipu Te Uru – Grow West network hui. We spent time learning about the marae’s developing wāo hua (food forest) and hearing from Rob Small about the whakapapa of kūmara and the years of mahi behind Te Taonga o Ngā Kūmara. From whakapapa stretching back more than 800 years to traditional growing practices and mātauranga, Rob shared knowledge that reminds us that growing kai is also about growing connection, knowledge and relationships with whenua.

Kai Te Atatū is showing how local food resilience can grow from relationships. Sparked by a Kai Conversation, the collective brings together people already growing, cooking, sharing and advocating for kai in their community. From community dinners and practical workshops to growing projects with tamariki, the network is turning connections into action and strengthening the local web around kai.

Bella is one of the many people contributing to the Glenavon Kai Village. This initiative is driven by the kaupapa of Kai Aroha, which acknowledges that everyone in a community has something of value to offer

Kai West has joined Healthy Auckland Together, connecting with a wider network working to create healthier environments across Tāmaki Makaurau. Being part of this mahi gives us an opportunity to bring West Auckland community voices and experiences to the table, while contributing a food systems and food resilience lens to the wider movement for healthier communities. It also strengthens our connections with others working across Tāmaki Makaurau to address the conditions that shape people’s everyday lives.

A strong family tradition of growing food, a professional life spent working in gardens and alongside communities, and a deep love of the place she calls home have all come together in a new role for Rose Turbott, Kai West’s local kai coordinator for Karekare.

Everyone should have the opportunity to access good kai, participate in shaping their food system, and be part of communities where food is a source of wellbeing, connection, culture and abundance.

This election is an opportunity to ask for more than short-term responses to food hardship.

Let's ask for a food system that invests in people, places, producers, whenua and the future.

Across West Auckland, food relief organisations are strengthening their impact through the Full Circle Kai Pantry Workshops, a collaborative initiative led by Kai West and Rōpū Awhina Kai o te Uru with support from Auckland Council. Using a train-the-trainer model, the programme builds practical skills in food preservation, low-waste cooking and plant-based meals, helping organisations support whānau to stretch food further, reduce costs and minimise waste.

The Kai Resilient Neighbourhoods Network recently gathered for their first hui co‑hosted with Community Waitākere, creating space for connection, shared learning and relationship‑building across the many groups working to strengthen local food systems in West Auckland. A clear theme emerged: kai is about nourishment, but also about connection, wellbeing and resilience. Participants highlighted the diverse initiatives already underway and the power of neighbourhood‑led action. With Kai West supporting the network as a backbone, these gatherings are helping build a more connected, community‑led food system for West Auckland.

Community Waitākere’s involvement in the Kai West governance table reflects our commitment to strengthening community-led food systems through relationships and shared purpose. Through Lynnette van Nes’ role on the Steering Committee, we contribute a grounded community development perspective — listening closely, connecting people and supporting neighbourhood-led kōrero that move ideas into collective action. Our role is intentionally behind the scenes, helping weave relationships and uphold community voice so that kai resilience continues to be shaped by those who live, grow and share it every day.

Across West Auckland, neighbours are racing against the diggers to rescue fruit trees before they disappear under new developments. As older homes are cleared and flood-damaged properties sit empty, heritage trees that once fed families and connected communities are being lost. People like Susie in Henderson and Ethan in West Harbour are stepping in — digging out plums, bananas, mulberries and more before the machines arrive. Their actions highlight a bigger truth: while intensification brings more residents, it also erodes the very spaces that once supported local kai. Communities are calling for a more intentional approach, where developers, council and locals work together to save these food-producing taonga and replant them in places where they can continue to nourish future generations.

At the Ambrico Neighbourhood Hub, community, heritage and kai are growing side by side. Rooted at Te Toi Uku, The Crown Lynn and Clay Museum, the Hub is reconnecting a high‑density neighbourhood through practical workshops, shared knowledge and the deep history of the land beneath our feet. The original Crown Lynn story, using local clay to support food production, reminds us that kai and ceramics share the same whakapapa and that the whenua has always held the potential to nourish us. Today, that history surfaces something important: the need to heal the land as we strengthen our community. Through community‑led workshops, cultural knowledge sharing and plans for a future garden space, Ambrico is becoming a place where people, whenua and history come together to cultivate resilience and connection.