Fonterra angers Ma¯ ori with cheese branding
Fonterra has been accused of appropriating Ma¯ ori culture by naming a cheese after a Ka¯ piti chief.
Ma¯ori trademarks adviser Karaitiana Taiuru said cultural appropriation of Ma¯ori had become normalised by New Zealand businesses and our biggest company, Fonterra, was one of many culprits.
Fonterra named one of its Ka¯piti Cheese products Tuteremoana Cheddar. Tuteremoana is a Ma¯ ori ancestor of the Ka¯piti area, Taiuru said. The highest peak on Ka¯ piti Island, off Wellington’s south coast, is named after Tuteremoana.
Fonterra said the cheese was named after the landmark.
Regardless, using the name on a food product was particularly insulting to that person and their descendants, Taiuru said.
‘‘From a customary point of view it shows that you are going to eat that person,’’ he said.
Kaumatua Ross Himona said on his maaori.com website that Tuteremoana was a high chief who lived 20 generations ago and was the most famous descendant of Tara, an ancestor of the Nga¯ i Tara tribe.
He lived on Ka¯ piti Island for a time
and a cave at the southern end was named after his wife, who was buried there, the site said.
In 2015 Nga¯ti Toa Ranga¯tira iwi established the Ka¯ piti Island Strategic Advisory Committee with the Department of Conservation.
Its chief executive, Matiu Rei, said that although Tuteremoana was not directly linked to the iwi, the peak was named after him.
He was a chief of ‘‘some significance’’ and the cheese link was inappropriate.
Taiuru said New Zealand businesses should be consulting with Ma¯ori on such issues as a matter of course. ‘‘It is not difficult to fact-check names.’’
He knew of at least two families who were direct descendants of Tuteremoana who were insulted by Fonterra’s use of their ancestor’s name on its cheese.
Taiuru said he tried contacting Fonterra seeking an explanation but did not get a response.
‘‘It does make me wonder whether there were any checks in place when they did come up with the name.’’
Such misuse of Ma¯ ori culture set a dangerous precedent when other companies were looking to do the same.
‘‘Fonterra, being a household name, could definitely be leaders in that field for New Zealand.’’
Fonterra was not the only business guilty of appropriation, he said.
BP petrol stations sold coffee branded with the Ma¯ ori deity of fertility – Tiki. Titoki Whiskey bottles are also in the shape of Tiki and a TV ad for The Warehouse shows Tiki featured on shopping bags.
‘‘The god of fertility Tiki has been appropriated for so many years, that he has become a national identity by non-Ma¯ ori to represent Ma¯ ori,’’ Taiuru said.
‘‘We can’t stop the past wrongs, but we can stop future appropriation.’’
‘‘It is not difficult to factcheck names.’’ Ma¯ ori trademarks adviser Karaitiana Taiuru