New Zealand idyll

The trouble with writing this blog is that I feel compelled to eat ever more extreme things in order to titillate you.  I love weird food, so that’s not usually too much of a problem but I’ll have to confess my sense literary duty caused considerable trepidation when I attended last month’s Kawhia Kai Festival.

Our family first discovered the annual event a couple of summers ago and I had a great time trying all manner of Maori food – from the ubiquitous mussel fritters and hangi, to kanga wai (rotten corn) with whipped cream, and various items of bush food.

Some things appealed more than others but I tried as many as I could pack in, apart from one traditional delicacy - shark's liver a.k.a. ate mango (which I think is prounced atay mungo).

Apparently ate mango is prepared by carefully removing the gall bladder from the liver, then wrapping the liver in clean cabbage leaves and steaming it for an hour.  

I felt queasy at the thought of even looking at it, much less eating some but apparently ate mango was very popular and the stall owner assured me that it would be sold out within minutes once it arrived an hour hence.  I contrived to be at the other end of the festival site at the appointed time.

But this time would be different, I promised myself; this time I’d seek out ate mango and eat it.  All for your reading pleasure.  

On the long drive down from Auckland I fretted about what ate mango would smell like and whether I’d be able to eat some without spewing.  But I should’ve saved myself the worry because ate mango woman wasn’t there this year.  Which created a new challenge; what weird things could I eat instead?

As you’ll see, I did pretty well:

What's not to like about hot out of the pan fried bread
with lashings of golden syrup?  It's hardly traditional kai,
but who cares!

This chunk of king fern root may have looked disconcertingly
 like a horse's hoof but is as traditional as it gets.  In
pre-European times Maori struggled to include
sufficient carbohydrate in their diets and had to
resort to 'delicacies' such as this.

Cubes of cooked king fern root au natural. 
And some fritters.  It was pretty bland - a bit
like taro.

I've got to confess that my pikopiko purchase ended
up mouldering in the bottom of the fridge.  I've
had them before; they're a bit like
chewy asparagus.

Top: paua (abalone) fritter on rewena (Maori bread
made with a potato starter).  Delicious and
amazing value for $10.  Apart from a little onion,
the fritter was all paua.
Bottom: puha (sow thistle) and mussels.  Tasty.

Raupo (bullrush) pollin.  In pre-European days, Maori
would make a type of unleavened bread from raupo
pollin.  The stall owner selling this product used it
to add interest to cup cake icing.  I've yet to get
experimenting with my purchase.

Happy hangi munchers.

Rory on Kawhia wharf. Yeah, I know there's no food -
but isn't it a lovely photo anyway.

Food may have been the star of the show, but the Kawhia Kai Festival is about so much more than eating.  It’s always held on the nearest Saturday nearest to Waitangi Day and is  also a cultural celebration that has a full programme of Maori music and traditional performances.

As my New Zealand readers will know, there’s been considerable national debate and angst about what this country’s national day should mean and how we should mark the occasion. 

I hate what Waitangi Day has become and am happy to leave the official event at Waitangi's Te Tii Marae to the politicians, the protesters and the press.

To me, the Kawhia Kai Festival exemplifies how we should celebrate the anniversary of our nationhood - whereby Maori, Pakeha and people from all nationalities, ages and backgrounds come together to celebrate Maori food and culture in a low key, relaxed and fun way where the colour of one’s skin and the pedigree of one’s ancestry doesn’t matter a bit.