New Zealand tourist information

New Zealand cuisine derives from various sources, most especially British and Maori. 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), the cuisine of New Zealand was traditionally simple fares such as "meat and three veg", but increasingly modified by Mediterranean and Pacific Rim influences since the 1990s. 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; but most people still eat their main meal in the evening.

Some visitors to New Zealand become confused between tea - which many New Zealanders drink - and tea the meal (interchangeable with dinner). Tea is a New Zealand institution - visitors whether from home or abroad can barely get in the door, before the host heads to the kitchen "to put the kettle on".

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 - it is expensive to "eat out" for dinner in New Zealand.

Maori cuisine
When Maori (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, Maori 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. Maori were one of the few peoples to have no form of alcoholic beverage.

Modern New Zealand Culinary Scene: Cosmopolitan and Traditional
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 . 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. Nonetheless, certain British heritage remain, with custard squares remaining available in many cafes and tea can be ordered as well as the numerous lattes, flat whites, or short blacks.

Vegetarianism was regarded as eccentric behaviour 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, decades of eating a lot of meat will not change overnight.

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 Pakeha family in Auckland, for example, may have a light meal at the Zarbo Deli and 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 at home. Another middle class Pakeha 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.