Food is one of the most important parts of Pasifika culture, just ask the members of the Murihiku Maori and Pasifika Cultural Trust.

The trust is responsible for running the hugely popular Polyfest every year.

And a big part of the festival is feeding the masses of volunteers who work tirelessly to make the week-long event such a success.

But exactly what is given to those volunteers, and the festival’s VIP guests, has changed a lot since the festival started in 2009.

Trust co-ordinator Tania Carran said in the initial stages organisers looked at how to feed the teams ‘’quickly, in bulk, and cheaply’’. This often meant using items such as chicken nuggets and deep fried options.

However, it had become evident that those options weren’t the kinds of foods the trust wanted to provide, instead it wanted fresh, unprocessed, healthier options.

Enter New World Elles Road manager Bradley Patton. His team now supplies the food, providing items such as fresh fruit platters, sandwich platters, crackers and cheeses.

Winton, Windsor and Gore New Worlds are also on board.

Healthy Families Invercargill had also supported the trust, with settings coordinator Stella O’Connor being a sounding board for implementing healthy changes.

The deep fried food options are long gone, Tania says.

The trust has also stopped supplying its volunteers with orange juice, opting for water only.

Even the food provided to the festival’s VIPs from outside caterers had changed – deep fried versions of foods have been replaced with healthier options.

‘’Part of our culture is looking after people and that’s always been through food. Now we are just doing it in a healthier way.’’

There had been no negative feedback about the changes, Tania says.

"It’s changing a system and it becomes the norm."

It was great to have the trust show strong leadership around healthy changes, Stella says.

The trust is an influential leader in their community and this is a great example of how working together with strong leadership can lead to healthy change.