E kanu mea ʻai, o nānā keiki i kā haʻi

This ʻōlelo noʻeau instructs Kānaka today to plant edible food plants, lest our children look with longing at someone elseʻs food. ʻAi in Hawaiian refers specifically to poi and kalo, in distinction from iʻa, which is meat. In the Hawaiian worldview, no meal was complete without ʻai, which is what gave us the nourishment and strength for life. ʻĀina Momona is dedicated to restoring nourishment to the lāhui Hawaiʻi through food sovereignty and the restoration of subsistence practices. We implore our people to join us in restoring ʻai to the lāhui through revitalizing traditional kalo production practices so that we can end our reliance on less ethical food systems for sustenance. One of our primary goals at ʻĀina Momona is to kanu mea ʻai, plant edible food, for our people to live off of the land once more.