Important foods included whitebait, the seaweed karengo, huhu grubs, pikopiko (fern shoots), karaka berries and toroi – a dish of fresh mussels with pūhā (sow thistle) juice.
Kānga waru translated simply means corn steamed pudding. It's simple, delicious and to celebrate Matariki (The Maori New Year) I thought I'd share my gran's very own recipe.
In traditional hāngī cooking, food such as fish and kumara (sweet potato), were cooked in a pit dug in the ground. Today, pork, lamb, potato, pumpkin and cabbage are also included. Hāngī was traditionally wrapped in flax leaves, but a modern Hāngī is more likely to use mutton cloth, aluminium foil and wire baskets.
Indigenous vegetables
Examples are pūhā (sowthistle) and an acidic form of spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides). Māori traditionally consumed parts of native plants such as fern roots and cabbage tree hearts as vegetables, and introduced the kūmara (sweet potato), yam, gourd and taro.
Seafood has also long been a significant aspect of Māori diet. Māori fished for a range of inland and coastal fish: tuna (eel), kahawai, kōkiri (leatherjacket), ara ara (trevally) and tarakihi. Shellfish too were harvested: pipi, tuatua and toheroa, kina, queen scallops and pāua.
Hāngī (Māori pronunciation: [ˈhaːŋiː]) is a traditional New Zealand Māori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven, called an umu. It is still used for large groups on special occasions, as it allows large quantities of food to be cooked without the need for commercial cooking appliances.
Their original diet was largely foraged food such as wild ferns, vines, palms, fungi, fruit and seeds, plus root crops like yams and sweet potatoes from their homeland – as well as hunted birds and seafood.
Coming from the tropical Pacific, the earliest inhabitants of Aotearoa would have been used to a diet based on carbohydrates, such as kumara, taro, yams, breadfruit and bananas, with small amounts of fish or bird meat as a "relish" to add savour or spiciness to an otherwise bland food, Prof Leach said.
Rewena Bread
Rewena (Maori bread) is a favourite and goes well with many meals or on its own as a snack. The recipe is simple however quantities and timing can take time to master.
“Food brings people together on many different levels. It's nourishment of the soul and body; it's truly love.” Food is literally life.
The hāngi (earth oven), was great for feeding lots of people, while other meals were cooked over (or in) embers. Māori would also heat water to boiling in wooden bowls using red hot stones – although iwi who lived near geothermals had boiling water on hand 24/7.
Māori cuisine
The kai can include chicken, lamb, pork, kai moana (seafood) and vegetables (particularly kūmara or sweet potato) and is placed on top of the stones then topped with dirt to trap the heat.
Pātaka Kai, which means storehouse or pantry in te reo Māori, is a place where people can leave food for other people to take for free.
Kai (food) | NZ Maori Tourism.
Pre-European Maori food was gathered from bush, sea, rivers and lakes. Some root crops were cultivated. Birds, fish, shellfish, eels, vegetation, eggs and wild honey were taken and prepared for eating. Obtaining food was a prized accomplishment and food was a symbol of hospitality and generosity.
The Maori people of New Zealand saw themselves and their lives closely linked with nature. This is why they believed in gods for each of the types of nature, such as the weather, forests, and sea. The Maori would not fell a tree or go hunting without first honoring a god.
Until the mid-20th century, few Māori were secular. Traditionally Māori recognised a pantheon of gods and spiritual influences. From the late 1820s Māori transformed their moral practices, religious lives and political thinking, as they made Christianity their own.
Taewa (or rīwai) is a collective name for the varieties of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) cultivated by Māori. Before European settlement, taewa was a staple food crop for Māori. By the 1800s, it had also become an important commercial crop, playing a key role in the introduction of Māori to European economics.
Potatoes became a staple Māori food crop and also a valuable form of currency for trading. By the time Europeans settled in New Zealand in the mid 19th century, Māori were growing taewa extensively. They were a vital food crop for the European settlers and were also exported to Australia.
The last authentic account of cannibalism was the case at Tauranga, in 1842 or 1843, by Taraia. I trust the last in the history of the country. Taraia will never be envied the distinction of having completed the list of these who indulged in the horrid custom.