New Zealand cuisine

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New Zealand cuisine derives from various sources, most especially British and Māori in the early days, the United States post-World War II, and Australia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and India since 1980. The best cuisine from New Zealand emphasises the quality and freshness of New Zealand produce from land and sea, which is readily available in an island nation which bases its economy on agriculture. Similar to the cuisine of Australia, the cuisine of New Zealand was traditionally simple fares such as "meat and three veg" and increasingly modified by Mediterranean and Pacific Rim tastes as the country becomes more cosmopolitan, albeit at a more gradual pace than Australia. Dinner is the main meal of the day, when families gather and share their evening together.

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[edit] Māori cuisine

When Māori (New Zealand's indigenous people) first arrived in New Zealand from tropical Polynesia, they brought with them a number of food plants, including taro and kumara (sweet potato), and also dogs and rats, which could also be food sources. The plants did not grow as well in New Zealand's temperate climate as they did in the tropics, and would not grow at all in the colder South Island. Bananas and coconuts - which they also brought with them - would not grow even in the North Island. Foods such as fernroot became a more important part of the diet than in other Pacific Islands, and some native New Zealand plants were also eaten, along with insects such as the huhu grub. Problems with horticulture were made up for by an abundance of bird and marine life. Larger species, such as the moa, were quickly hunted to extinction, and so systems of tapu and rahui were developed to ensure the survival of remaining species. These included forbidding the hunting of certain species in particular places or at certain times of year, so that the species could regenerate.

Like other Polynesian peoples, Māori cooked their food in earth ovens, known in New Zealand as hangi, although the word umu was also used - as in other Pacific languages. Other cooking methods included roasting and, in geothermal areas, boiling or steaming using natural hot springs and pools. Occasionally food would be boiled in non-geothermal areas by putting hot stones into a bowl with water and the food; and some food was also cooked over the open fire. Some foods were preserved using smoke, air-drying, or layers of fat - particularly muttonbirds. Māori were one of the few peoples to have no form of alcoholic beverage.

[edit] Food and religion

In traditional Māori religion, food was noa, or non-sacred. This meant it could not come into contact with tapu (sacred) places or objects. If it did, the tapu would be removed and the power of the place or object, and often the people associated with it, would be destroyed. High chiefs, and people engaged in tapu work such as tattooing, were tapu and were restricted in how they could deal with food; the most tapu needing to be fed by others. One story tells of a war party which had to be postponed as no non-tapu people were available to load the food supplies into the party's waka.

[edit] Pākehā influences

When Europeans (Pākehā) first arrived in New Zealand from the late eighteenth century, they brought their own foods with them. Some of these, especially pork and potatoes, were quickly adopted by Māori and helped end the threat of food shortages that had long plagued many Maori tribes. Potatoes were particularly popular as they were grown in the same way as kumara but produced a much higher yield with less effort. Other European foods such as wheat, pumpkin, mutton, sugar and many types of fruit also became a common part of the Māori diet. American sailors brought new varieties of sweet potato to New Zealand, and these high-yield varieties quickly superseded the original varieties of kumara.

Alcohol, initially rejected as 'wai piro' (stinking water), also became part of Māori life.[1] Most Māori tribes grew surpluses of food for trade with other tribes and with European visitors and settlers. Some tribes grew wealthy from this trade, although the Māori food industry declined in the mid nineteenth century due to land loss and competition from Pākehā farmers. Many traditional food sources, such as the kererū (wood pigeon) and other birds, as well as some types of fish and plants, became scarcer as forests were destroyed and species were over-hunted by Pākehā.

[edit] Māori cuisine today

Present day Māori cuisine is a mixture of Māori tradition, old fashioned English cookery, and contemporary dishes. Most large Māori gatherings feature a hangi, which is likely to contain foods brought to New Zealand by Māori and by Pākehā. A wide selection of cakes and other sweet foods of the kind beloved by ninteenth century English are available - which many Māori have become very fond of. Coconut and bananas, unlike their Pacific Island neighbours, are not part of the traditional diet of Maori but have been reintroduced in the more contemporary Pacific Rim influenced Maori cooking courtesy of modern transportation.

In less formal occasions, distinctively Māori dishes include the boil-up - of pork, potatoes, kumara, and dumplings, which is also similar to traditional British cooking methods, and pork and puha - sow thistle, which combines an introduced meat with an indigenous vegetable. In recent decades there has been much concern that Māori have picked up the worst of European eating habits and as a result are disproportionately likely to suffer from obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

[edit] Pākehā cuisine

A pavlova, one of the icons of Pākehā cuisine.
A pavlova, one of the icons of Pākehā cuisine.

The majority of Pākehā - also known as New Zealand Europeans; are of British descent, and so it is not surprising Pākehā cuisine owes much to British cuisine.

[edit] Settler food

Nineteenth century British settlers in New Zealand tried as much as possible to reproduce the foods of their homeland. In the early stages of colonisation this was difficult as many ingredients were unavailable. Pākehā settlers ate native birds and fish, and used local ingredients in substitution for those which were unavailable, for example brewing tea and beer using unconventional plants. Most of these innovations were abandoned as the Pākehā population increased and conventional ingredients began to be mass-imported or produced in New Zealand. One innovation which was commonly served on New Zealand tables until the mid 1980s was the Colonial Goose, a stuffed leg of lamb which substituted for the goose [2]. A major difference between British and Pākehā food was that meat was much more readily available to all social classes in New Zealand. Whereas in nineteenth century Britain, labourers ate meat in very small quantities, in New Zealand they could have it for every meal. Since meat was a high status food in Britain, British settlers in New Zealand ate vast quantities of it.[3]

Like the British, Pākehā have traditionally been very fond of sweet foods, and the best of traditional Pākehā cooking consists of cakes, scones, muffins and desserts. The country's most iconic recipe book, the Edmonds Cookbook, originally began as publicity material for a baking powder company, and contains a high proportion of baking recipes.

[edit] Opening Up and Exposure to Foreign Styles of Cooking

For most of the twentieth century, Pākehā cuisine remained highly derivative of British food.[4] This included all the worst qualities of British food culture, including the idea that the only real meal consisted of meat and three vegetables, the idea that cooking well was not an important skill, and general conservatism with overseas food rejected as 'foreign muck'. From about the 1960s, the advent of affordable air travel allowed New Zealanders to travel overseas more easily. Most Pākehā went to Europe, where they discovered French and Italian cooking, and also the Indian and Chinese restaurants of Britain. When travelers returned home they helped create a demand for better quality food and more variety.[5] They also tried to discover what New Zealand cuisine was, experimenting with hangi and gaining a greater appreciation of New Zealand produce.

The 1980s was marked with economic liberalisation dubbed Rogernomics that abolished farm subsidies, forcing many farmers to find ingenuous means of survival. Many chose to produce specialty cheeses such as Brie, Shilton, Havarti, and growing olives [6] or grapes instead of traditional meat and dairy farming. Avocado oil for cooking was invented in New Zealand in 1999 by a group of farmers based in Tauranga region, that subsequently developed into The Grove brand.

Rogernomics also abolished much of import tariffs and instituted a more relaxed agricultural product import quarantine regime. This allows hereunto prohibited or prohibitively expensive specialty foods, such as genuine serrano ham from Spain, extra virgin olive oil from Italy, mango from Thailand, to be available in New Zealand at reasonable costs. These two developments from Rogernomics have given birth to a proliferation of specialist food products available in New Zealand.

[edit] Other cuisines in New Zealand and Impacts on New Zealand cuisine

New Zealanders come from many ethnic backgrounds, and most immigrants to New Zealand have tried to reproduce their native cuisines or national dishes in New Zealand. Similar to early Pākehā settlers, this often proved difficult. Larger ethnic groups, such as the Chinese, were able to import some ingredients, but often dishes had to be modified to use local ingredients. Ethnic restaurants have served as community meeting places and have also given other New Zealanders a chance to try different cuisines. However for most of its history there were few ethnic restaurants in New Zealand other than inauthentic Chinese, Indian and Italian eateries.

The Immigration Act 1987 completely abolished nationality preference for immigration, and immigration from East Asia and South Asia has skyrocketed after the law was enacted. Many of these immigrants have brought their different cuisines to New Zealand, and often opened ethnic restaurants and takeaway eateries, giving New Zealanders a chance to try more authentic editions of Japanese, Thai, Malay, regional Chinese, Indian, and other Asian cuisines. Over time these ethnic cuisines have been gradually accepted by Pakeha and Maori New Zealanders. Consequently, most New Zealand cities have a wide variety of ethnic restaurants, and foods such as kebabs, couscous, and sushi are served virtually everywhere. Many ethnic origin dishes have been willingly adopted by New Zealanders as their own, including sushi, antipasto, butter chicken, pad thai, pasta such that they appear in home cooking as well as in generic New Zealand restaurants.

Ingredients for many ethnic dishes have become much easier to find in major cities, mostly through speciality or ethnic food stores started by many of the post-1987 migrants to New Zealand, but in some cases also through mainstream New Zealand supermarket chains. Similar to Australia, in time the increasing availability of ingredients caused many New Zealandised ethnic cuisines to re-evolve towards those of their countries of origin, and some ethnic food ingredients have been adopted for local cooking: ingredients such as extra virgin olive oil and sun dried tomatoes, and to a lesser extent fish sauce and rice paper are now seen as ordinary ingredients, whereas in earlier decades many people would have seen them as highly exotic.[7]

[edit] Modern New Zealand Culinary Scene: Cosmopolitan and Traditional

It is not uncommon to discover green curry appearing on the menu of a modern New Zealand restaurant in the early 21st century, the use of strong distilled white vinegar or malt vinegar, recommended in the Edmonds Cookbook for cooking, have been supplanted by lemon juice [8] or wine vinegar, palm sugar, sea salt, and extra virgin olive oil are commonly consumed on dinner tables today when they were unheard of before the 1990s.

Concurrently, food habits are changing in Australia to lighter fares influenced by the Mediterranean, and subsequently Southeast Asian, styles of cooking. The proximity between the two countries means many New Zealand chefs learn from their trans-Tasman counterparts, and in time the changing Australian culinary scene has trickle-down effects on the New Zealand cuisine as well [9]. In general, food trends in New Zealand tend to trail its trans-Tasman counterparts by a few years to a decade, such as the Mediterranean foodstyle did not become mainstream in New Zealand until the dawn of 1990s, while its influence was already felt in Australia by the 1980s, though in recent times Auckland and Wellington have food fashions moving essentially in sync with that of Sydney and Melbourne.[10] Chefs born in New Zealand such as Peter Gordon played a part in the creation of fusion cuisine - also known as "Pacific Rim".

One major recent development in the food scene is the emergence of a genuine cafe culture and disappearance of the traditional institution of tearooms at large. Before the 1990s, tearooms proliferated throughout the country offering cream tea with scones, cream, and cucumber sandwiches, muffins, and custard squares, with filtered coffee or tea as drinks. New Zealanders have now copied the Australian habits of adopting Mediterranean practice of drinking espresso derived coffees due to frequent movement of people between the two countries [11]. In time, cafes became wildly popular and many tearoom owners converted their businesses to cafes and learned to use expresso machines in a rush. Cream tea has gone out of fashion in the contemporary New Zealand dining scene, and scones are baked at homes rather than served in eateries.

Vegetarianism had been regarded as an alternative lifestyle for many years; but became more acceptable during the 1980s. Despite exhortations by the Ministry of Health and their allies for people to eat less meat, and more cereals, fruits, and vegetables, a highly meat-based diet remains a part of New Zealand culture, albeit with decrease of red meat consumption and intake of fish and chicken has been on the rise.

As a result of various developments, the food scene of New Zealand in the early 21st century is in a state of flux: cosmopolitan Pacific Rim fares reign supreme in major urban centres, particularly for the eating out scenes in Auckland and Wellington, while traditional hearty settlers food, now dubbed Kwisine Kiwiana, remain more popular for home cooking and in rural regions, although the Pacific Rim influences are slowly being felt outside the main cities as well. Modified versions of Mediterranean, Chinese, and Indian dishes may appear on New Zealand dinner tables depending on the individual families. A middle class Pākehā family in Auckland, for example, may have a light meal at a cafe consisting of harissa-crusted eye fillet steak with gremolata (Mediterranean influenced) with pawpaw and prosciutto salad dressed with limes and Vietnamese mint, showing the impact of Mediterranean and Asian influences, but opting for the traditional roast pork with pureed apples when at home for dinner. Another middle class Pākehā family in Cheviot may be enjoying a traditional roast leg of lamb with the three vegetables of carrots, green beans, and potatoes, served with gravy and mint sauce, for dinner, but with mint sauce reinterpreted as a mint and cucumber salsa-like condiment.

Certain vestiges of traditional Kiwiana fares remain popular, such as fish and chips, meat pies, custard squares, pavlova, and others, despite being viewed as culinary dinosaurs by certain cosmopolitan-living New Zealanders [12].

[edit] New Zealand cuisine in other countries

New Zealand cuisine has made minor impacts on the world at large, although Australia does feel influences from New Zealand cuisine, with certain renowned chefs such as Ian Hewitson, Justin North, Philip Johnson being New Zealand-born and Stephanie Alexander [13] and Neil Perry actively including New Zealand culinary styles into their works. The country's most famous culinary export, the Pavlova, has been the object of a decades-long battle with Australia over where it was invented, and in other parts of the world is not particularly associated with Australasia.

Fusion cuisine and the 'Pacific Rim' style of cooking are major cuisine styles that interact with modern New Zealand cuisine, with chefs from New Zealand actively learning overseas trends[14], and chefs like Peter Gordon and foodies such as Lauraine Jacobs impacting fusion and Pacific Rim cuisines from New Zealand cuisine. Cuisine magazine, first published in 1986, has earned global fame and is held in high prestige among the worldwide foodie communities [15]. Recently New Zealand cuisine has had a minor impact on British fast food with the establishment of a gourmet burger chain, GBK. Founded by New Zealanders, this is openly modelled on similar chains in New Zealand.[16]

[edit] Wines

Main article: New Zealand wine

New Zealand has a successful wine industry, with nearly 700 litres being exported in the year to June 2007.[17] The first grape vines may have been introduced by missionary Samuel Marsden in 1819, and the first wind produced by official British resident James Busby in 1833. Small vinyards were also planted by French settlers in Akaroa in the 1840s. However wine was drunk in relatively small qualities well into the twentieth century, with the average per capita consumption only about 2.6 litres in 1966. The high price of imported wines probably prevented New Zealanders from developing a taste for win, although it did help sales of local vintages.[18] The quality of these wines slowly improved, with New Zealand wines winning three gold and thirteen silver medals at the International Wine Fair in 1963.[19] Aided by the deregulation of the economy in the 1980s and 1990s, domestic wine consumption increased and New Zealand wine won increasing accolades internationally.

There are 10 major wine-producing areas in New Zealand, with Marlborough famed for its sauvignon blanc, Gisborne for its chardonnay, and Central Otago and Martinborough building a reputation for pinot noir and pinot gris. Hawkes Bay is known for its bold cabernets and Auckland's Waiheke Island is home to one of the top 20 cabernet blends in the world. Marlborough and Hawkes Bay are New Zealand's two premium wine-growing regions.

[edit] Patterns of eating

Most New Zealanders eat their main meal (dinner) - sometimes known as tea - in the evening. Most families living in one household try to eat dinner together several times a week. The formality and structure of these meals varies from family to family. Some families sit at a dining table, say grace, ensure children use cutlery correctly and generally obey strict table manners; others will be more informal but still sit around a table; and others will sit on couches and armchairs with their plates on their laps, watching television. Typically the food is cooked by the mother of the family, with or without assistance from other family members, but in some cases other family members will cook. As social times change, fathers are doing more of the family cooking. Although a few New Zealanders cook most things 'from scratch', most New Zealand home cooks are dependent to some extent on pre-made ingredients (in particular, packaged soup and sauce mixes). Cakes are very rarely made from packet mix - this has never really taken on in New Zealand. Most families eat takeaways (take-out) such as fish and chips, Chinese takeaways, or pizza about once a week. In flats (households shared by a group of unrelated young people), flatmates will generally either take turns cooking or each cook and eat individually.

In the summer barbecues are common, generally as a social event. Guests will usually be invited to bring beer (and/or wine) and on occasion meat, which the host will cook. Sometimes guests contribute a salad to the gathering instead. It is traditional for the men to cook the meat, and for the women to do everything else, although these patterns are changing. Similar Maori gatherings will often feature a hangi (pronounced hung-ee), a pit in which meats or fish are cooked with vegetables. A deep hole is dug in the ground, lined with red-hot stones and covered with vegetation. The food is then placed on top. The whole oven is sprinkled with water and sealed with more vegetation. The hole is then filled with earth and left to steam for several hours. Traditionally, men dig and prepare the hole, and women prepare the food to go in it. All members of an extended family (whanau) help out for such a feast. The occasion is relaxed, friendly and fun, with people often eating the meal under a marquee.

Many New Zealand gatherings feature a custom known as 'bring a plate' in which each guest will bring a plate of food to share. This allows people to host large groups without incurring serious expense. Similar customs include guests bringing salads or meat to a barbecue. Most New Zealand parties are 'BYO' (bring your own alcohol), but in this case the drinks are not usually shared. This is especially the case with parties hosted by young people, who cannot usually afford alcohol for more than a few people. One exception is sometimes the 21st birthday party, which will often be funded by the host's family.

New Zealand's restaurant culture has developed strongly over the past three decades, thanks partially to the liberalisation of liquor licensing laws. However a visit to a restaurant is still not a regular activity for most New Zealanders, although many regularly visit cafes for lunch. With the exception of relatively wealthy people and those who are particularly interested in food, a restaurant meal is usually something only experienced on a special occasion.

There is a 'fast food' culture similar to that in the United States, Australia and Britain. Many American fast food chains have a presence in New Zealand, and local variants based on quality local produce (such as Burger Fuel and Hell Pizza for example) have arisen. The pie is possibly the nearest thing New Zealand has to street food, though its popularity has waned. A fast food chain based on pies, Georgie Pie, was founded in 1977 but went out of business in the mid-1990s.

In the main centres food halls have become popular, with several in Auckland alone. Immigration has led to an increase in choice and quality, with many food halls offering cuisines including Thai, Indian, Turkish, Malaysian Japanese and Chinese, as well as distinctly New Zealand fare such as roast dinners.

[edit] New Zealand foods

[edit] Developed in New Zealand

[edit] Developed elsewhere but an important part of New Zealand culinary culture

[edit] References

  1. ^ 'Wai Piro' in Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand
  2. ^ pg 124-128, David Burton, Pavalova Paradise Lost, Cuisine issue 127, March 2008
  3. ^ 'Food, drink and dress' in Te Ara: The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand: http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealandInBrief/Society/9/en
  4. ^ 'Food' in Te Ara.
  5. ^ 'Food' in Te Ara.
  6. ^ As an example, in 1984 there were only two producers of olive oil hailing from New Zealand. 20 years later, the figure stands at 600. Andre Taber, A Buyer's Guide to New Zealand Olive Oil, New Holland Publishers, 2007, pg 9
  7. ^ Peta Mathias in 2005 claims ingredients such as fish sauce and rice paper are now a normal part of New Zealand household pantries. Peta Mathias, A Cook's Tour of New Zealand, Penguin Viking, July 2005, pg 16. However many supermarkets still stock them in the 'ethnic' section.
  8. ^ This development is discussed by Peta Mathias in her discussion of how salad dressing in New Zealand has evolved from the old malt vinegar-based sauce to aioli in the early 21st century, and the recipe of aioli uses lemon juice rather than vinegar. Peta Mathias, Ibid, pg 7-8
  9. ^ An example is Judith Tabron, owner of the Soul Bar and Bistro in Auckland. Tabron invites Australian chefs such as Bill Marchetti, Philip Johnson, Stephanie Alexander, and Greg Malouf across the Tasman to New Zealand as guest chefs at Soul from time to time specifically to learn from current Australian food trends, and some of their recipes have become part of the standard menu at Soul. Judith Tabron, Soul, Random House New Zealand, 2005, pg 7-9
  10. ^ A positive Australian comment on modern urban New Zealand cooking, specifically Auckland, is from Bruce Elder of the Sydney Morning Herald, "...here was a time when discriminating eaters [from Australia] were told to take a packed lunch when visiting New Zealand. Now it is consistently good and also, at the upper end, very cheap. With an exchange rate of around $NZ1.20 equalling $AUD1 meals at the best restaurants in Auckland work out at around $AUD25 for mains and that, literally, is half what you would pay for the same in Sydney's upmarket restaurants." Bruce Elder, Eating in New Zealand (Part 2) http://blogs.smh.com.au/trampaboutnz/archives//007306.html
  11. ^ This is alluded to by Peta Mathias. Peta Mathias, Ibid, pg 54
  12. ^ Author David Burton has personally witnessed plenty of New Zealand comments that they are thankful New Zealand no longer eats much of traditional Kiwiana fares. David Burton, Ibid
  13. ^ The second edition of Australian foodie Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion includes several recipes made with ingredients traditionally produced in New Zealand but not her own country. Judith Tabron, Ibid, pg 128
  14. ^ Mark McDonough of Zarbo Cafe and Deli claims how he actively sources overseas food and accompanying culinary ideas for inspiration. Mark McDonough, Zarbo: Recipes From a New Zealand Deli, Random House New Zealand, 2002, pg 6
  15. ^ For example, the Cuisine magazine was selected as the best food magazine in the world at the 2007 Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards run by Tasting Australia and sponsored by Le Cordon Bleu, beating other food magazines published in other parts of the English-speaking world http://www.cuisine.co.nz/index.cfm?pageID=54996&r=1
  16. ^ GBK About
  17. ^ http://www.nzwine.com/statistics/
  18. ^ 'WINES OF NEW ZEALAND', from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966.
  19. ^ 'Names and Types of New Zealand Wines' in 1966 Encylopaedia of New Zealand.

[edit] See also

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[edit] External links

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