New Zealand cuisine

The cuisine ofNew Zealandis largely driven by local ingredients and seasonal variations. As an island nation with a primarily agricultural economy, New Zealand yields produce from land and sea. Similar to thecuisine of Australia, thecuisineof New Zealand is a diverseBritish-based cuisine, with Mediterranean andPacific Riminfluences as the country has become more cosmopolitan.
Historical influences came fromBritish cuisineandMāori culture. Since the 1970s, new cuisines such asNew American cuisine,Southeast Asian,East Asian, andSouth Asianhave become popular.
When theMāoriarrived in New Zealand from tropicalPolynesia, they brought a number offood plants, includingkūmara,taro,purple yam,hueandtī-pore, most of which grew well only in the north of theNorth Island. Kūmara could be grown as far south as the northernSouth Island, and became a staple food as it could be stored over the winter.Native New Zealand plants such asfernrootbecame a more important part of the diet, along with insects such as thehuhu grub.Earthworms, callednoke, are a part of the traditional Māori diet as well. Problems with horticulture were made up for by an abundance of bird and marine life. The large, flightlessmoawas soon hunted to extinction for food and tools as well.Rāhui, or resource restrictions, included forbidding the hunting of certain species in particular places or at certain times of year to allow populations to be maintained.Seafood consumed includedkōuraor freshwater crayfish,pāuaor abalone, andtioorbluff oysters. The discovery ofTypha orientalisled to the creation of a gritty unleavened bread made laboriously from its dried pollen calledpungapunga.
Similar to other Polynesian people, Māori cooked food in earth ovens, known in New Zealand ashāngī, although the wordumuis also used.Stones are heated by fire and food packed in leaves placed on top. These packs are then covered with foliage, cloth, or wet sacks, and then a layer of earth.Other cooking methods included roasting, boiling or steaming using geothermal heated water, and cooking over an open fire.
Some foods were preserved using smoke, air-drying, fermentation, or layers of fat—particularlymuttonbirds.
Māori were one of the few people to have no form ofalcoholic beverage.
In traditionalMāori religionfood was noa, or non-sacred. This meant care had to be taken to prevent it from coming into contact withtapuplaces or objects. If it did, the tapu of the place or object, and often the people associated with it, would be at risk. High chiefs, and people engaged in tapu work such as tattooing, were tapu and were restricted in how they could deal with food, with 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'swaka.
When Europeans (Pākehā) first arrived in New Zealand from the late eighteenth century, they brought their own foods with them. Some of these, especiallyporkandpotatoes, were quickly adopted by Māori. Potatoes were particularly popular as they were grown in a similar way tokūmarabut produced a much higher yield with less effort. Other European foods such aswheat,pumpkin,mutton,sugar, and many types of fruit also became a part of the Māori diet and were widely traded with visiting ships.American sailors brought new varieties ofkūmarato New Zealand, and these high-yield varieties quickly superseded the original varieties of kūmara. (Today, most kūmara are the commercial varieties: Owairaka Red, Toka Toka Gold and Beauregard.)The introduction ofmaize(kōpakipakiorkānga) led to the creation of a meal calledkōpirowhich involves submerging corn cobs under running water to ferment before its kernels are scraped off and formed into cakes to roast or steam.A coffee and spice merchant of European descent, David Strang, invented instant coffee in Invercargill in 1890. The drink quickly spread around New Zealand and then around the world.
Alcohol, initially rejected aswaipiro(stinking water), also became acceptable in 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 because of land loss and competition from settler farmers. Many traditional food sources, such as thekererū(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.
Present day Māori cuisine is a mixture of Māori tradition, old-fashioned English cookery, and contemporary dishes. Some Māori names for consumables, likepāua(also prized for its shell),have entered common New Zealand English usage.
Most large Māori gatherings feature ahāngī, which is likely to contain foods brought to New Zealand by Māori and by pākehā. In recent decades, there has been much concern that Māori are disproportionately likely to suffer fromobesity,heart disease, anddiabetesas a result of eating habits.
Two dishes regarded as distinctively Māori are theboil up—made of pork, potatoes, kūmara, and dumplings—and pork and pūhā (sow thistle), which combine introduced and indigenous foods. Both dishes owe much to nineteenth-century British cooking methods.
Another distinctive food isrēwenaor "Māori bread", which is made with fermented potatoes.The 2020 cookbookHiakaiby chefMonique Fiso, academicTracy Bernoand food writer Lucy Corry describes the history, development andtikangaof modern Māori food.
A dish served during Matariki feasts or at hākari (feasts) on the marae is parāoa parai (fry bread).They are described as crispy and golden brown on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
The majority of New Zealanders arePākehāof British descent, soBritish cuisinehas been very influential.
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. They ate native birds and fish, and used local ingredients in substitution for those which were unavailable, for example brewingteaandbeerusing unconventional plants. Most of these innovations were abandoned as the New Zealand British 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 wascolonial goose, a stuffed leg of lamb which substituted for goose.A major difference between British and New Zealand British food was that meat was much more readily available to all social classes in New Zealand. Whereas in nineteenth-centuryBritain, 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.
Like the British, New Zealand British have traditionally preferred sweet foods, and a wealth of baking dishes celebrate important occasions, reflected throughcakes,scones,muffinsand other mainly sweet baking dishes. The country's most iconic recipe book, theEdmonds Cookery Book, originally began as publicity material for abaking powdercompany, and contains a high proportion of baking recipes.
For most of the twentieth century, New Zealand cuisine remained highly derivative of British food.Unlike Britain, New Zealand escaped major food shortages during World War II. However, demands of the US forces in the Pacific as well as exports to Britain saw meat and butterrationedbetween 1943 and 1950.From about the 1960s, the advent of affordable air travel allowed New Zealanders to travel overseas more easily. Many New Zealanders went to Europe onoverseas experiencewhere they encountered French and Italian cooking, and also the Indian and Chinese restaurants ofBritainas well as theNew British cuisine. When they returned home they helped create a demand for better-quality food and more variety.They also tried to discover what New Zealand cuisine was, experimenting withhāngīand gaining a greater appreciation of New Zealand produce.
The United Kingdom's joining of theEuropean Economic Community(EEC) (now theEuropean Union) in 1973 sounded the death knell of New Zealand's identity as an agricultural producer for the British Isles, and the formal cultural ties, including cuisine, with the United Kingdom started to become diluted.  During this period, certain non-British or Irish European dishes, such asbeef bourguignon, had shed the 'ethnic' connotation and entered mainstream New Zealand cooking. The 1970s also saw major changes in take-away food with the arrival of the first American fast-food chains:Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)in 1971,Pizza Hutin 1974,andMcDonald'sin 1976.
The 1980s was marked with economic liberalisation dubbedRogernomics(named for the then-Minister of Finance, Roger Douglas) that abolished farm subsidies, forcing many farmers to find alternative means of survival. Many chose to produce specialty cheese types likeHavarti,BrieandStilton, or diversified into growing olivesor grapes instead of traditional meat and dairy farming.Avocado oilfor cooking was commercialised in New Zealand in 1999 by a group of growers based in theTaurangaregion.
Rogernomics also abolished most import tariffs and instituted a more relaxed agricultural product import quarantine regime. This allowed hitherto prohibited or prohibitively expensive specialty foods, such as genuineserranoham from Spain,extra virgin olive oilfrom Italy, andmangofrom 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.
On top of changes in available ingredients, the 1980s also witnessed a wholescale liberalisation in attitude towards the formerly 'foreign muck' cooking styles and segmentation of lifestyles according to income and socio-economic status. New Zealand had by this time developed a largely distinct cultural outlook away from the British Isles, and this also made foreign cooking styles more acceptable among the general public.The same era also saw the moneyed populations feeling free to openly emulate the luxurious eating and drinking habits of upper and upper middle classes overseas, as the traditional New Zealand preference of egalitarianism, manifested in widespread prejudice against any deviation from lower-middle-class lifestyles, waned in influence. In the words of New Zealand-based anthropologistDavid Veart, this period of sea change in New Zealand's culinary culture was akin to "being let out after a long school detention".
People from many different backgrounds have settled in New Zealand, and many 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 1986 completely abolished nationality preference for immigration, and immigration fromEast Asia,Southeast AsiaandSouth Asiahas greatly increased since. Many of these immigrants have brought their  cuisines to New Zealand, and often opened ethnic restaurants and takeaway eateries, giving New Zealanders a chance to try more authentic editions ofJapanese,Thai,Malay, regionalChinese,Indian, and otherAsian cuisines. Over time these ethnic cuisines have been gradually accepted by Pākehā and Māori New Zealanders.Consequently, most New Zealand cities have a wide variety of ethnic restaurants, and foods such askebabs,couscous, andsushiare 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 gave birth to a more authentic style of ethnic cooking, and some ethnic ingredients have been adopted for local cooking: ingredients such asextra virgin olive oilandsun-dried tomatoes, and to a lesser extentfish sauceandrice paperwere already seen as ordinary ingredients by 2000, whereas even by the late 1980s many people would still have regarded them as exotic.
As a result of various developments, the cuisine of New Zealand in the 21st century is in a state of flux: cosmopolitanPacific Rimfare's reign is now the norm in much of metropolitan eating-out scenes,and traditional hearty settlers' food, now dubbed 'KwisineKiwiana',but reinterpreted through Pacific Rim cooking knowledge, is a popular cooking style for eating-out scenes even in the most remote rural regions. Most of the home cooking prepared at households inAucklandis now a mix of traditional Kiwiana dishes heavily modified by Mediterranean and Asian techniques and ingredients, and adapted versions ofMediterranean, Chinese, and Indian dishes.In the more culturally traditional parts of the country, such as ruralCanterburyand theWest Coast, however, traditional Kiwiana fare is still the norm at many homes.
Certain vestiges of traditional Kiwiana dishes remain popular throughout the country, such asfish and chips,meat pies,custard squares,pavlova, and others.An active nostalgia movement supports the traditional Kiwiana cuisine, as spearheaded by the popularity of the television seriesKiwi Kitchenpresented by Richard Till, which is believed to be a public response to a common perception that the traditional Kiwiana dishes are disappearing from the New Zealand tables.Home baking is particularly believed to be the last bastion of New Zealand cuisine still unaffected by international trends.
Concurrently, food habits are changing in Australia to lighter fares influenced by the Mediterranean, and subsequently Southeast Asian, styles of cooking. The proximity, common history, and strong modern political, economic, cultural, and family ties between the two countries means many New Zealand diners and chefs have always been well informed of the trends in the Australian dining scene.  Many chefs had worked in Australia and endeavour to 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.
In general, there are minimal differences between the food preference of New Zealand and Australia. The food trends in New Zealand tend to trail its trans-Tasman counterparts by a few years to a decade, such as Mediterranean cookery, which did not become mainstream in New Zealand until the dawn of the 1990s, while its influence was already felt in Australia by the 1980s. While Australia has by the early 21st century developed a well-established niche specialist produce distributing channel, a similar system is still in its infancy across the Tasman.  However, in recent timesAucklandandWellingtonhave food fashions moving essentially in sync with that ofSydneyandMelbourne.
One major recent development in the food scene is the emergence of a genuinecafé cultureand disappearance of the traditional institution oftearoomsat large. Before the 1990s, tearooms proliferated throughout the country offeringcream tea,cakes,cucumber sandwiches, and pastries such ascustard squares, with filtered coffee or tea as drinks. New Zealanders have copied the Mediterranean practise of drinkingespresso-based coffees, but also inventedinstant coffee, which is now widely consumed around the world.In time, cafes became popular and many tearoom owners converted their businesses to cafes. 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.
Vegetarianismhad been regarded as an alternative lifestyle for many years, but became more mainstream during the 1980s.However, despite exhortations by theMinistry of Healthand 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 a decrease in red meat consumption, and intake of fish and chicken has been on the rise due to their relative affordability compared to red meat.Annual meat consumption was 75.2 kg (166 lb) per capita in 2019, comprising 41.1 kg (91 lb) of chicken and other poultry, 18.9 kg (42 lb) of pork, ham and bacon, 11.6 kg (26 lb) of beef and veal, and 3.6 kg (7.9 lb) of lamb and mutton.
Globally, New Zealand cuisine has little effect, although Australia does feel influences from New Zealand cuisine.The country's well known culinary export, thepavlova, has been the object of a decades-long battle with Australia over where it was invented.
Fusion cuisineand foreign cuisine styles interact with modern New Zealand cuisine, with chefs from New Zealand actively learning overseas trends,and chefs like Peter Gordon, bakers such as Dean Brettschneider, and foodies such as Lauraine Jacobs influencing fusion cuisines derived from New Zealand cuisine.Cuisinemagazine, first published in 1986, has earned global fame and is held in high prestige among the worldwide foodie communities.
New Zealand has a successful wine industry, with about 76 million litres being exported in the year to June 2007.The first vines are thought to have been introduced by missionarySamuel Marsden, and planted in 1817 by Charles Gordon, superintendent of agriculture for the missionaries, according to Dr Richard Smart who was viticultural editor of both editions ofThe Oxford Companion to Wine.Official British residentJames Busbyis credited with producing wine atKerikeriin 1833, andCharles Darwinnoted the winery in his diary when he visited Kerikeri in 1835.
Small vineyards were also planted by French settlers inAkaroain the 1840s. However, wine was drunk in relatively small quantities well into the twentieth century, with the averageper capitaconsumption only about 2.6 litres in 1966. The high price of imported wines probably prevented New Zealanders from developing a taste for wine, although it did help sales of local vintages.The quality of these wines slowly improved, with New Zealand wines winning three gold and 13 silver medals at theInternational Wine Fairin 1963.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, withMarlboroughfamed for itssauvignon blanc,Gisbornefor itschardonnay, andCentral OtagoandMartinboroughknown forpinot noirandpinot gris.Hawkes Bayis known for its boldcabernets, andAuckland'sWaiheke Islandis 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.
Beeris the most popular alcoholic drink in New Zealand, accounting for 63% of available alcohol for sale.New Zealand is ranked 27th inbeer consumption per capita, at around 64.7 litres per person per annum. The vast majority of beer produced in New Zealand is a type oflager, either pale or amber in colour, and between 4%–5% alcohol by volume. 
There are also over 100 smaller craft breweries and brewpubs producing a vast range of beer styles.The two largest breweries in New Zealand,Lion NathanandDB Breweries, control almost 90% of sales by volume between them.New Zealand is also a leadinghops-producing nation with some of the most sought-after hops in the world.
Most New Zealanders eat their main meal—known as 'dinner' or sometimes 'tea'—in the evening. The move from midday to evening dinners began in the early 20th century, although the tradition of a midday dinner on Sunday remained well into the 1960s. In 1962, a nationwide food survey reported 75% of households normally ate their main meal in the evening, but over 50% of households ate their Sunday main meal at midday. The survey was repeated in 1982, by which time 83% of households ate their main meal in the evening, and only 21% of households ate their Sunday main meal at midday.
In the summer,barbecueshave become popular since the late 20th century, generally as a social event.Guests will usually be invited to bringbeeror wine, and on occasion meat, which the host will cook. Sometimes guests contribute a salad to the gathering instead. Traditionally, the men cook the meat. Many gardens are designed with special areas for barbecuing.Similar Māori gatherings will often feature ahāngī, 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 and covered with damp cloth or leaves. Water is added before the hole is quickly covered 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 (whānau) help out for such a feast.
Many New Zealand gatherings feature a custom known as 'bring a plate' (potluck) 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.
New Zealand's dining-out culture developed strongly in the 1960s,thanks partially to the liberalisation of liquor licensing laws (in 1961) and popularisation ofcafésand other similar casual dining establishments. It is common for people to visit cafés regularly for lunch or morning or afternoon snacks.  On the other hand, eating at a restaurant is still regarded as a special occasion or treat for most of the population.
Fish and chips, the stapletake-awaymeal in New Zealand, has been popular for decades.Since the 1970s, a largerfast foodculture has developed, similar to that in the United States.Many American fast-food chains have a presence in New Zealand, and local variants (such asBurger FuelandHell Pizza) have arisen. Themeat pieis possibly the nearest thing New Zealand has tostreet food, sold indairies, bakeries, supermarkets, petrol stations, and school canteens. Pies are usually made with beef mince or steak, lamb, chicken, veggies, or pork; sweet pies are less common. A fast-food chain based on pies,Georgie Pie, was founded in 1977; however, it ran into financial trouble and went out of business in 1998, withMcDonald's New Zealandbuying its assets. (The chain was revived in a limited form between 2013 and 2020, with pies being sold through McDonald's restaurants.)
In malls,food courtshave become popular, with several inAucklandalone. Immigration has led to an increase in choice and quality, with many food halls offeringAsian cuisinesincludingThai,Indian,Turkish,Malaysian,JapaneseandChinese, as well as distinctly New Zealand fare such as roast dinners.