Dr Ridvan Firestone and her team will look to better understand the link between ‘culture and food systems, diet and traditional practices’ and ‘diet-related diseases’ such as diabetes, particularly from a Pacific worldview. 

The central question driving this research: What insights are contained in indigenous and traditional knowledge systems that can be used to design new ways to prevent diet-related diseases amongst Pacific peoples in New Zealand? 

This research will develop a theoretical model of Pacific dietary patterns that will be culturally-centred, by investigating the historical and social-cultural perspectives on lost and evolved indigenous and traditional knowledge, and dietary patterning, in relation to diet-related diseases.