General

New Zealand cuisine derives from various sources, most especially British and Māori. At its best it 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. Owing to its colonial origin (shared with Australia), New Zealand cuisine is traditionally simple fare such as "meat and three veg", espoused by the bestselling Edmonds Cookbook. Dinner is the main meal of the day, when families gather and share their evening together. With the New Zealand penchant for travel, and multicultural social trends, traditional eating habits are changing.

Māori Cuisine

When the Māoris (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. 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. Other cooking methods included roasting and, in geothermal areas, boiling or steaming using natural hot springs and pools. Some foods were preserved using smoke, air-drying, or layers of fat. Māori were one of the few peoples to have no form of alcoholic beverage.

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, or people engaged in tapu work such as tattooing, were tapu and were restricted in how they could deal with food. 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.

European 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. 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, while initially rejected as 'wai piro' (stinking water), also became part of Māori life. 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 scarce as forests were destroyed and species were over-hunted by Pākehā.

Māori cuisine today

Present day Māori cuisine is a mixture of Māori tradition, old fashioned English cookery, and contemporary dishes. Most large Māori gatherings will feature a hangi, which is likely to contain foods brought to New Zealand by Māori and by Pākehā. There will probably also be a wide selection of cakes and other sweet foods of the kind beloved by ninteenth century English people. In less formal occasions, distinctively Māori dishes include the boil-up, which is also similar to traditional British cooking methods, and pork and puha, which combines an introduced meat with an indigenous vegetable. In recent decades there has been some 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.

European Cuisine

The majority of Pākehā (white New Zealanders) are of British descent, and so it is not surprising that Pākehā cuisine owes much to British cuisine.

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 remained on New Zealand tables for many decades was the Colonial Goose, a stuffed leg of lamb which substituted for the Michaelmas goose. 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. A highly carnivorous diet remains a part of Pākehā culture, although red meat consumption has dropped in the last few decades. 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.