Food Culture in New Zealand

Hello there!

I’m doing some research on food culture in New Zealand and I will be sharing some interesting stuff here. This is my first post and  I’ll be telling you something about the food culture in New Zealand. I hope you’ll like it!

The food culture in New Zealand is very interesting, it appears that their food culture consists mainly of seafood and meat. New Zealand is surrounded by sea so it isn’t surprising that seafood is common but examples of common species in New Zealand are greenshell mussel, black oreo and albacore tuna. But you can get more information about the seafood here.Meat is also part of the food culture in New Zealand, as I said earlier, but New Zealand is a  nation of keen farmers. There is a lot of sheeps in New Zealand so they are famous for their lamb. They  are also famous for their beef but not as much they are for their lamb. The lamb is also their favourite.

Kiwis love sweets or lollies like they call it.  They love  good ice cream but Hokey pokey creamy vanilla ice cream strewn with pieces of honeycomb is a kiwi favourite. I also found out that they like minties, which is like a hard -white -chewy -mint-flavoured sweet, and pineapple lumps that’s sort of like a chocolate coated pineapple flavoured toffee I think. Of course there are lots of other sorts of lollies and I have to mention the pavlova, a kiwi favourite, which is a meringue- based dessert. I’m not sure  if they call that lolly but it’s definitely in their food culture.

Now I’ve  told you a little bit  about the food culture and I hope you learned something from it, at least I’ve learned that they love seafood, lamb and lollies.

In the following posts I’ll be telling you more about food and interesting stuff so keep on reading!

- Þórey

Recourse:

http://www.newzealand.com/int/feature/favourite-new-zealand-foods/

http://www.newzealand.cl/food.htm

Maori Hangi

One interesting thing  I found when I was doing some research is the Maori hangi.

Maori hangi is a tradition where they cook the food underground, using heated rocks in a pit oven. This method for cooking is usually used for special occasions to share with friends and family. It’s also a great way to interact with the maori culture!
This method has been used for over two thousand years. Maoris ancestors heated stones and placed meat on top with some vegetation on top of that and then left it to cook.  Then through the years and experience they found the best cooking method. That cooking method has not changed since.
Chicken, fish and root vegetables was usually the food that was used in hangi. But now they also use pork, mutton or lamb, pumpkin, potato and cabbage.
The food is put in some wire baskets and then put in a pit with some heated rocks. Then the food is covered with wet cloths and some earth. The food is in the ground for around 3 to 4 hours and then it’s ready.

If you are interested and want to learn more, I found some website where you can find out how to do a hangi  from step to step here 

And here I found some video how to do a maori hangi 

- Þórey 

Resource:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C4%81ngi
http://www.genuinemaoricuisine.com/Folders/Hangi.html
http://www.newzealand.com/travel/en/media/features/food-&-wine/maori-culture_maori-food_feature.cfm

Meals of the day in New Zealand

In this post I thought it would  be nice telling you about the typical meals in New Zealand throughout the day.

So I'll start with the breakfast.
The breakfast normally just consists of cereal and some toast with a cup of coffee or a tea or just something to drink.  On the weekends they sometimes eat more fancy and cook their breakfast which consists of scrambled egg, bacon, cooked tomatoes, mushrooms, hash browns and baked beans. It's very similar to  English breakfast.

Moving on to lunch. For lunch they usually eat something simple. They often have some sandwiches or hot pies. They have to have some space for the dinner! But on sundays they sometimes have something called "Sunday Lunch" but that's a roast beef and roast potatoes and pumpkins, slowly cooked in the oven. That's a bit heavier than a sandwich!

Then there's the main meal of the day, dinner. It  usually includes meat and cooked vegetables and potatoes. It's just very simple and typical.

Then last but not least there's the dessert. For dessert they often have their famous Pavlova but thats their favourite. But I'll tell you about that later.


So this is sort of their food diary in New Zealand. It's very similar to other countries especially Britain.

Cheerio!
- Þórey

Resource:

http://www.newzealand.cl/food.htm

New Zealand Birdseed Bar

When I was looking for recipes from New Zealand  the other day, I wanted to find some very simple recipe and easy to make and I found this one!
It looks good an it doesn't seem to require a lot of effort.

Ingredients:

-1 cup sesame seeds
- 1 cup sunflower seeds
- 1 cup coconut
- 1 cup nuts, chopped
-1 cup siltana
- 100 g butter
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 cup sugar

Method: You start with roast first four ingredients in oven until nicely browned. Then add sultanas. Melt butter, honey and sugar and mix it together in a pot and then mix into dry ingredients. Then press the mixture into a tray and cut when cooled.

If you want more kiwi recipes you can find them here but I found this one right here

- Þórey

The ultimate kiwi lamb burger

 I found this recipe  here. I was searching for some lamb recipes and then I found this one and I thought it  was suitable for all kinds of occasions. I also thought it was nice to find a recipe that's not just lamb and potatoes or something. This is a little bit different and it looks great and I would definitely like to try this recipe sometime!

Pattiesingredients:

-6oo g lamb mince
-1/2 large onion, very finely chopped
-1 clove garlic, crushed
-1 egg, lightly beaten
-1 slice wholemeal toast breat, crusts removed, soaked in 2 tablespoons milk
-1/2 cup feta, crumbled
-1/2 cup mint leaves, chopped
-1 tbsp rosemary leaves, finely chopped
-1 tbsp tomato paste
-1 tbsp oil
-zest of 1 lemon

to serve you'll need:
- 4-5 burger buns, halved
- tomato relish or sauce
- lettuce leaves
- tinned beetroot
- 1 red onion very finely sliced
- 4 eggs fried
- 2-3 ripe tomatoes, sliced
-1/2 cup aioli or mayonnaise mixed with 1/2 cup finely chopped basil

method for patties:
place all the ingredients in a bowl, season and mix together. Then shape into 4-5 patties and cover it and put it into the fridge for 15 minutes. Preheat a BBQ or a frying pan to a medium heat. Brush the patties with little bit of oil and cook for a few minutes until they're crunchy and brown on one side. Then turn the patties over and reduce the heat to medium low and cook for another 8-10 minutes until they're cooked through

Everyone can put their burgers together as they like it with the filling.

If you'd like more recipes like that you can find them here: http://www.recipes.co.nz/mediterranean-lamb

-Þórey

Hokey Pokey Biscuits

I found this recipe, of hokey pokey piscuits on the internet, they look very delicious and I will definately try them someday. Hokey pokey is something  they like a lot, at least they put it in a lot of stuff. I put a link with a hokey pokey recipe below.

Ingredients:
125g butter
50 g Sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp milk
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda

You'll start with preheating the oven at 180°C. Mix butter, sugar, golden syrup and milk together in a pan. Heat until the butter is melted and the mixture is almost boiling. And you have to remember to stir all the time. When that's done you remove the pan from the heat and let it cool down a little. Then you mix flour and baking soda together and add to the cooled mixture and stir well. Then take a tablespoon to make little balls of the mixture and then put it on a baking paper and press down with a fork.  Bake it in the oven for 15-20 minutes until they're golden brown and beautiful.

I found this recipe here: http://www.chelsea.co.nz/baking-and-recipes/248/hokey-pokey-biscuits.aspx
and here is a recipe of  hokey pokey which they seem to eat a lot of: http://www.chelsea.co.nz/baking-and-recipes/210/hokey-pokey.aspx

- Þórey

Pavlova

Pavlova is a very common dessert in New Zealand. It consists of  meringue, whipped cream and some fruits. I tried it the other day and it was delicious! 

I found the recipe here and I definitely recommend it to you!

 In the video below you can see how I did the Pavlova, I don’t know if this video was a success or not but lets just hope for the best ;)

fun fact: the dessert  have been created in honour of the dancer Anna Pavlova around the one of her tours to Australia and New Zealand  in the 1920s

- Þórey