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This page is about the cuisine of the New Zealand Māori. For the cuisine of Māori from the Cook Islands, see Cook Islands cuisine.
A Māori hangi, a traditional method of cooking food.
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Māori cuisine (Māori: Kai Māori) refers to the culinary traditions and practices of the Māori people of New Zealand. Māori food culture is derived from the traditional culinary practices of the Polynesians within the tropical pacific that has been adapted to New Zealand’s seasonal climate conditions. Māori cuisine has been heavily influenced by other cultures, with the most notable influence coming from British cuisine.

Overview edit

Polynesian settlement edit

The Māori people are descendants of Polynesian settlers who arrived to New Zealand as a result of mass migration events from the Southern Cook Islands and the Society Islands. The Polynesian settlers brought numerous plant and animal species with them, but New Zealand’s temperate, seasonal climate meant that very few of the plant species introduced survived. The food crops that did survive were sweet potato (kūmara), taro (taro), yam (uwhi), calabash (hue) and ti (tī pore).[1] Of the crops that were introduced by Māori, Kūmara had the widest distribution, growing as far south as Banks Peninsula and thus become the dominant crop grown by Māori. The southernmost limits for the other crops included the Cook Strait for taro and calabash, with taro being grown in the north-western South Island. Yams being grown around Tolaga Bay and ti growing in a few favourable sites in the Northland Peninsula. Forests were cleared and the land was extensively modified to grow many of the tropical cultigens. [2] Even though they failed to thrive in the new climate, the names of coconut (niu), breadfruit (kuru) and even rice (ari), a crop once cultivated by the ancestors of the Polynesians in Southeast Asia continued to be passed down through oral tradition.[3][4]

Cooking and utensils edit

 
Māori women cooking food in a hot spring.

Hangi were also used in processing. The long cooking time was used to convert the saccharine matter of Cordyline roots into a molasses-like pulp, detoxify karaka kernels and for extracting seed oils.

Festivals and rituals edit

Ingredients edit

Cultivated Plants edit

These are the plants that were cultivated by Māori for food in New Zealand. Many of these plants were cultigens brought over to New Zealand from tropical Polynesia, though some native plants were also cultivated for food. In Māori mythology, cultivated crops fell under the god Rongo.

  • Crops cultivated by Māori
  •  
    Kūmara (sweet potato).
  •  
    Taro plant.
  •  
    Uwhi (purple yam).

Gathered Plants edit

These were plants that were gathered for food by Māori. In mythology, all gathered plant foods fell under the god Haumia.

Fruit and seeds edit

  • Gathered fruits
  •  
    Tutu fruit. The extracted juice was used in various meals.
  •  
    Developing fruit of Kiekie.
  •  
    Fleshy cones of Kahikatea.

Leaves edit

Leafy vegetables (Korari)

  • Gathered leaves
  •  
    Pūhā.

Roots edit

Roots (Aka)

  • Gathered roots
  •  
    Bracken fern, an important wild food source for Māori.

Fungi edit

Fungi (Harore)

  • Gathered fungi
  •  
    Hawai mushrooms.
  •  
    Hakeke mushrooms.
  •  
    Tawaka mushrooms.

Miscellaneous edit

A list of plants that don’t fit either category, usually medicinal plants.

Seafood edit

Fish edit

Shellfish edit

Molluscs edit

Seaweed edit

Meat edit

Preservation edit

 
Rua Kūmara, storage pits dug out into a sloping hill used to preserve kūmara.

Māori had utilised numerous preservation methods. In response to New Zealand’s seasonal climate, in contrast to the tropics, preservation of food was employed to provide a constant source of food throughout the winter months. Preserving food also provided a realible source during times of war or famine.

Post-contact period edit

The first sighting of New Zealand and subsequent contact by European sailors had greatly influenced and changed the Māori diet. European crops were eagerly adopted by Māori as they were more adapted to New Zealand’s climate and often provided higher yields than the original cultigens. The most notable example being the Potato

Dishes edit

Pre-European edit

This describes a list of dishes made by Māori before European contact:

  • Ika mata – Fish that’s cut and eaten raw.
  • Hangi – A traditional cooking method involving food placed on hot rocks within a pit and buried in earth.
  • Pehu – Dumplings made from the cooked mashed corm of Taro.
  • Rehia – A jelly made from extracted fruit juice thickened by carrageenan seaweed.
  • Roroi – Pudding made from a starchy vegetable that’s grated, usually sweet potato.
  • Toroi – Seafood and leafy vegetables fermented.
  • Waiharo – Gruel made from the paste of Hinau berries.

Post-European edit

This describes a list of dishes made by Māori after European contact, usually made with ingredients and cooking techniques introduced by foreign settlers:

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Ngā tupu mai i Hawaiki – plants from Polynesia". teara.govt.nz.
  2. ^ Louise Furey (2006). "Maori Gardening: An archaeological perspective" Science & Technical Publishing. Department of Conservation Retrieved October 2022.
  3. ^ Elsdon Best (1930). "Maori agriculture. Cultivated food-plants of the Maori and native methods of agriculture" Journel of the Polynesian Society Retrieved October 2022.
  4. ^ "Maori agriculture Part I — Introductory Remarks | NZETC" Victoria University of Wellington Retrieved October 2022.
  5. ^ "Agaricus sp. Tipitaha. Field mushroom". Ngā Rauropi Whakaoranga.
  6. ^ "Tuber spp. Panako. Truffle". Ngā Rauropi Whakaoranga.
  7. ^ "Gourds, truffles and coprolites". New Zealand Geographic.
  8. ^ "Pholiota sp. Harore. Edible fungus". Ngā Rauropi Whakaoranga.
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