New Zealand Cuisine

New Zealand cuisine, like Australian cuisine, has long been dominated by English cuisine and one can still find fish 'n' chip shops at every corner. Only some 15 years ago New Zealand chefs and housewives liberated themselves from the English cooking traditions and have since developed their own style of cooking. The result is an exciting new cuisine with influences from Europe, Asia, Polynesia and the Maori cuisine. Today, New Zealand cuisine is a 'Pacific Rim', a true crossover-cuisine with lots of fresh and diversified ingredients.

Main ingredients for the New Zealand cuisine are lamb, pork and cervena (venison), salmon, crayfish (lobster), Bluff oysters, paua (abalone), mussels, scallops, pipis and tuatua (both are types of New Zealand shellfish); kumara (sweet potato), kiwifruit, tamarillo , feijoa, Hokey Pokey Ice Cream and pavlova, the national dessert as well as many tropical fruits like passion fruits, papayas, avocados and, of course, the kiwi fruit.

Sheep play a major part in New Zealand's agriculture so there is no wonder that lamb plays an important role on New Zealand menus. New Zealand lamb is of best quality and is praised by connoisseurs all over the world.

Of course, the Pacific Ocean also is an important source for delicious ingredients. Fish and seafood are an integral part of the diet in New Zealand as is salmon which is farmed in huge salmon farms. The rivers also provide delicious trouts and other freshwater fish.

A Maori specialty is the 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. It is then filled with earth and left to steam and cook for several hours.

Wine from New Zealand

New Zealand has 10 major wine-producing areas, 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. Hawke’s 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 Hawke's Bay are New Zealand’s two premium wine-growing regions.