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All Things Aroha

Danish and Māori, Mikkeline is a power house. Raised a vegetarian and full hearted vegan for more than 20 years, this is a Goddess on a mission to bring consciousness into the way we eat.

By Raquel Teixeira Published 3 years ago 9 min read
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Mikkeline Olsen

Everything is energy. From the sun to the soil, through thoughts and words, leaves on trees and people on Earth. We are all energy intertwined in this Unified Field of consciousness - dancing, moving, transforming across the cosmos.

The awareness of such truth flips the brain around and shifts perceptions of connectedness into realms of magic. It is like flashing light after light into a dark room. The more lights we turn on, the more we see. And this dark room suddenly becomes a vast green patch of Heaven, abundant and rich - a perfect circle of life.

Our bodies are one with the environment, and the environment one with our bodies. We are what we eat, my Nana used to say. The depth of that truth goes as deep as roots on trees.

Mikky’s presence carries the strength of her passion for her ancestors and their knowledge, Nature and her perfection and the land and it’s wisdom. Her grace performing food alchemy is as mesmerising as her hula dancing.

You could sit and watch her cook, sing, speak, dance for lifetimes, astounded by the vision of such a free spirit fully embodied in its purpose.

Mum from Aotearoa - New Zealand - and Dad from Denmark, M migrated to Australia when she was three and was raised a vegetarian, never having tried meat or fish. Carrying such awareness around what we eat from such a young age and a DNA that combines cultures from such diverse ends of the world, made it undeniable that food, tastes and nature’s harmony would play an enormous part in her life long quest to find out who she was.

“Food is so powerful. Not only it is enjoyable and brings people together as it is one of our number one energy source - it has the power to harm us and to heal us”

Connecting with our ancestors opens pathways to the truth of what we are that go beyond our minds understanding. Our journeys always guiding us to where we need to be, synchronicity after synchronicity, unveiling the tie of every dot.

After studying Native American Ecology in the States and learning about indigenous cosmological worldview, M’s calling to reconnect with her own Maori cultural heritage became louder. Her journey to New Zealand was one of healing and revelations that have brought her closer to her purpose and deeper into her sense of belonging.

“Events started happening quite a lot that led me to meet my uncles, aunts, cousins and extended family that my mum had not been in contact for decades… My grandmother’s presence was really strong, like she was pushing for this meetings to happen. I was undeniably guided by her. From my mother’s stories I only knew her by her non Maori name and only on this trip I discovered her Maori name - Aroha! All my life I loved that word, thinking I would name my child that, not knowing why. Discovering that it was my Nana’s name just laid out in front of me my connection to her so beautifully… I could see how she was always there, guiding me”.

Weaving in and out of it, M’s connection to health, food sources and nourishment of the body was ever present in her path. At 18, she studied Naturopathy, Nutrition, Herbs, Anatomy and Physiology. In her time living and travelling the Americas, M lived in Peru on a community that was working towards Permaculture principles and indigenous healing methods.

“Travelling the world and seeing the different relationships different cultures have with food opened my eyes. In Peru they have thousands of different varieties of potatoes… That gets you thinking. The idea behind industrial agriculture is that we are going to feed the world with mass production and fewer crops, but if you look at nature you see that it just doesn’t work like that. There are not only 2 or 3 types of trees, it’s in the variety that lies the abundance of life. It all works together, and our food systems shouldn’t be any different”.

M hand picks all the lemon myrtle leaves she uses in her products. One by one. With that Aroha love that runs in her blood.

“These lemon myrtle leaves are all spray free. No chemicals, fertilisers or anything like that on these plants. And that means no nasty chemicals in your body. They don’t belong there, we don’t need them. Nature provides everything that we need. We just have to stop and listen and work with the seasons. It’s not that hard. Refocus our attention a little bit. Remember what is important. And food being one of those essential things, it is up to us what we want to fuel our bodies with. What we eat affects how we think, how we feel. It’s all connected, nothing is separate. We think it is, but it’s not.”

“If it wasn’t for our indigenous people in Australia - our first nation people - we wouldn’t have these foods. They have been nurturing and cultivating it for a long time, passing on the seeds and wisdom from generation to generation. So I think it’s important we pay our respects to them and all indigenous groups across the world that have been the caretakers and traditional knowledge keepers of our food systems”

It is beyond obvious that chopping down 46 thousand year old trees for mining is a crime against ourselves. As obvious as the lie that Man is superior to Nature and entitled to abuse it. This narrowed vision of ourselves as separate from the whole is the one thing that is in between us and abundance and harmony beyond our wildest dreams. Our native people know that, unconditionally connected with Spirit and the Land - one and the same.

“The oldest culture in the world is right here and we keep undervaluing its knowledge. What are the indigenous foods, what and how do they eat? There are amazing food sources that people have not even heard about… Medicines… The answers are all around us, we just have to listen”.

It was in a bush food conference that M meet Doug, the owner of the Eden Farm where she handpicks those Lemon Myrtle leaves. Doug and Kath have planted 600 rainforest trees and 600 food trees with no commercial intent. They only care about regenerating the land.

In University, M had a teacher that was a Permaculture master, Morag Gamble who started a bush food garden and brought kimchi to her first class. It was Morag who first opened M’s eyes to all that is going on positively and negatively with our food network industry. “Morag taught me about GMO and Nanotechnology, and she was also the one that told me about the 17 thousand farmers that killed themselves in India over debt and seeds that were supposed to change their lives but failed… I knew I wanted to be a positive force in the change rather than giving money to these corporations that are manipulating people".

Her path was as diverse and complementary as the flavours she now creates in her kitchen. Counting different studies from food politics to yoga, M worked on a detox retreat center in Byron, hosted her own retreats, worked at The Crystal Castle and eventually moved to Brisbane city to take up a role with Queensland Health as a Multicultural health worker aiming to assist Maori and Pacifica people on their preventative health education.

A few years later, healing journey after healing journey, M started making her own magic.

“Fermented foods are medicine. Its an ancient method that most cultures around the world used to store food. I began eating fermented foods as I was interested in their health benefits and so went on to do a day long workshop a couple of years ago and it fascinated me. Started reading about it, experimenting, talking to other people, educating myself and it didn’t take long for the creative outburst to kick in”.

M is as obsessed with the alchemy of it as she is inspired in the creation of flavours.

“Seeing this food change over those weeks is fascinating. We live in this germaphobic world when there are all these micro beings that are essential and helpful for us. With sauerkraut, for example, vitamins a b and c are vastly increased because of the process of fermentation, which also makes the food more bioavailable, meaning the body can absorb the nutrients better and it tastes damn good!”

4 WEEKS OF FERMENTATION LATER

OTHER THINGS AROHA

The corporate and government framework is too narrow. Protocols, bureaucracies, personality dynamics… It all appears to be more important than the greater good.

“Communities from lower social economic groups are given fast food options instead of the space and tools to re create their own community, get produce, plant food, re connect to it. Indigenous people have their own ancient cultivation methods, why can we not tune in and find out what those methods are instead of looking at the food pyramid? We need to empower people in their knowledge and restructure our systems”.

It feels overwhelming for the mind to process such change, but it truly comes down to basic principles such as eating organically, eating food that’s seasonal from our local areas and supporting smaller business.

The commercial kitchen where All Things Aroha is made belongs to Food Connect. A community owned social enterprise that amongst other things offers a food subscription service with products that come from farms within a 500 km radius from Brisbane and farmers are paid a fair wage.

“It helps to connect people that live in a big city like Brisbane with farmers. It creates a mini community within communities where small businesses support each other. Systems within systems, just like what happens in nature”.

“Food is meant to be enjoyed, appreciated. People are meant to be eating well, exploring flavours, rejoicing in abundance. We got to bring this Creation into the kitchen and celebrate it”.

ABUNDANCE BOWL

RECIPE

- Aroha Kimchi

- Sweet Potato Noodles

- Enoki Mushrooms

- Mango

- Tempeh

- Toasted Sesame Seed Oil

- Tamari

- Kale

TO GARNISH

- Coriander

- Pickled Ginger

- Toasted peanuts

- Ahi Sauce

Cook noodles drain and set aside

Rinse mushrooms

Marinate tempeh for 10 min in tamari and sesame seed oil and lightly fry until golden

Rinse kale and massage with sesame seed oil

Lightly dry toast peanuts

Pick your favourite bowl and get creative by combining ingredients as you wish and add garnishes and anything else your soul desires

VITALITY BOWL

RECIPE

- Kahuna Kraut

- Quinoa

- Toasted Walnuts

- Lettuce leaves

- Kale

- Carrots

TO GARNISH

- Mint

- Lime

- Avocado

Pepper berry and tahini dressing

- Unhulled tahini

- Garlic

- Lime

- Salt

- Tasmanian Pepper Berries

Combine all ingredients for desired taste

BUSH TUKKA VEGAN MOUSSE

RECIPE

Base

- Avocado

- Cacao powder

- Maple syrup

- Cinnamon

- Salt

Thoroughly combine all ingredients until smooth consistency and place in base of bowl

Cream Topping

- Cashew nuts

- Lemon Myrtle Powder

- Maple syrup

- Cardamon

Thoroughly combine all ingredients until smooth consistency and layer on top of base

TO GARNISH

- Wattle Seed (crushed)

- Raspberries

- Lemon Myrtle Powder

Make it pretty :)

“My intention is that people realise the connection with every living thing, nature being such an essential part of it. Food is a small way, one aspect, to guide people back to that. For us to take back our power with the choices that we make knowing that food is an enjoyable political statement”

SENDING LOVE AND GRATITUDE TO

Doug & Kath Brownlow for the Eden bush walk

Jenny for the nurturing hands in the kitchen

Galen & Tanya for the visit and pick up

Stay Nice for the musical beats

Anthony and Carly for the dinner party

humanity
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About the Creator

Raquel Teixeira

My mission is to spread LOVE! Dancing my dance of freedom in this beautiful flow of the energy we are. One with the Universe, co-creating a New Earth: Fairyland, Atlantis, Heaven, The Great Awakening; however we want to dream it. So it is!

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