Wednesday, October 18, 2006

kiwi table manners

I have been thinking a lot lately about how Kiwis eat together. (Update: In Luke 10, mission is dwelling in the homes and around the tables of the culture. So I am re:imagining what it might mean to eat around Kiwi tables. So how do Kiwis eat together? What does the way we eat reveal about our values and identity.) So I am racking my brain, trying to think of Kiwi literature and Kiwi movies which show us eating together …

the hangi in No 2; the tea drinking and card playing around the kitchen table in Whale Rider; the tea making in World’s Fastest Indian; the candlelit orchard dinner in In My Fathers Den;

and from my fabulous commenters: the barbeque in Rain; and in Broken English; dinners in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures; the “kai cart” in Footrot Flats; the shared crayfish in Once Were Warriors;

If you can think of any (Kiwi movies only please), then please drop them into the comments below …

Posted by steve at 05:07 PM

17 Comments

  1. Steve, i think there’s a scene in the movie ‘Rain’ where the family have a bach and the neighbours come over for a barbie.

    Comment by Anita — October 18, 2006 @ 5:29 pm

  2. Yes, they do too. I think there is lots of eating (and drinking) in Rain! … great movie…

    Comment by Lynne — October 18, 2006 @ 5:34 pm

  3. It’s of my favourites, although one or two parts made me slightly uncomfortable…
    Novel by Kirsty Gunn.

    Comment by Anita — October 18, 2006 @ 9:39 pm

  4. Heavenly Creatures has a couple of meal scenes and, to step back further, I think there’s a family fight around the dinner table in An Angel at My Table.

    One can’t forget the “kai cart” sequence in Footrot Flats. Little pill…little pill…

    My goodness, I need to watch some kiwi movies made in the last 10 years.

    Comment by Craig (mars-hill) — October 18, 2006 @ 9:56 pm

  5. Heavenly Creatures has a couple of meal scenes and, to step back further, I think there’s a family fight around the dinner table in An Angel at My Table.

    One can’t forget the “kai cart” sequence in Footrot Flats. Little pill…little pill…

    My goodness, I need to watch some kiwi movies made in the last 10 years.

    Comment by Craig (mars-hill) — October 18, 2006 @ 9:57 pm

  6. Sorry about the double post – I had more error messages!

    Comment by Craig (mars-hill) — October 18, 2006 @ 9:57 pm

  7. After a day at work, my mind’s dragged up a BBQ scene in Broken English – I haven’t seen it for several years so I might be wrong.

    None of the eating scenes I’ve added end happily. New Zealand film strikes again!

    By the way Steve, did you ever look up the Sam Neil doco, Cinema of Unease? I think you’ll find it useful and/or engaging.

    Comment by Craig (mars-hill) — October 19, 2006 @ 5:59 am

  8. I was going to suggest “Rain” too, and “The End of the Golden Weather.”

    Comment by Paul Fromont — October 19, 2006 @ 7:27 am

  9. I also think there’s a scene at the beginning of Once Were Warriors where Jake comes home with some crayfish and they have a ‘meal’ together. I could be wrong, it’s been a while since i have seen it…

    Comment by Anita — October 19, 2006 @ 7:49 am

  10. There is also that samoan (i think) one about the family matriach who is dying and finding a new matriach (maybe! we havn’t seen it, only the shorts). Don’t they all gather for a huge meal…

    Comment by Lynne — October 19, 2006 @ 9:01 am

  11. OK, I ws close. Fijian matriach.
    Movie called No 2.

    “The action centres around Nana Maria (Ruby Dee – American film and television veteran), the matriarch of a Fijian family, and her somewhat unreasonable, middle-of-the-night request (read: demand) to have her grandchildren organise an impromptu feast, with a whole pig and “no outsiders”. Just like in her youth. Using the excuse of wanting to choose her ‘successor’, she sets about gathering her physically and relationally scattered brood back to their Mt Roskill homestead with more in mind than just a hearty feed and some music.”

    Must see it!

    http://www.lumiere.net.nz/reader/item/363

    Comment by Lynne — October 19, 2006 @ 9:05 am

  12. these are all great – and I will add them into the blogpost … Craig your comment about NZ film linking to identity is exactly the reason i am thinking this way … trying to re:imagine Luke 10 – mission as dwelling around tables – in Kiwi culture … Lynne, just to point out that the film no 2 was already mentioned in the initial blog post :).

    Comment by steve — October 19, 2006 @ 9:39 am

  13. Hmmphf! Yeah yeah, whatever! 🙂

    Comment by Lynne — October 19, 2006 @ 11:10 am

  14. There’s the preparation of the Umu in Sione’s Wedding – and also the home dinner at Albert’s mum’s when Princess arrives.

    Comment by Jan — October 19, 2006 @ 6:41 pm

  15. In regards to ‘Once were warriors’ where Jake brought home some Kai moana – he was also looking to satisfy some other appetites as well, as I remember….Do you think that’s also part of the kiwi feasting experience ?… nothing wrong with that ay ?

    Comment by Tangira — October 20, 2006 @ 5:16 pm

  16. Better late than never but now I want to watch kiwi movies on labour day rather than spring clean!! Must see No 2 – just the image of a mt Roskill homestead brings such fond memories. I think in “Her Majesty” there are a couple of scenes a ladies’ tea/gosip party and a family meal coloured by the father’s work stress?

    Comment by Jo Wall — October 23, 2006 @ 7:46 am

  17. I don’t know what kind of reaction you’d get, but there’s a wonderful Wellington ladies-who-do-lunch scene near the beginning of Braindead where the mother’s ear falls into her custard…

    Comment by Craig (mars-hill) — October 24, 2006 @ 8:28 am

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