Madeleine Hull
New Zealand's diet is heavily influenced by its diverse cultural heritage, with Māori and British cuisines being the two main culinary traditions. The country's diet is largely based on local ingredients, given its agricultural economy and vast coastline. While New Zealand's cuisine is often overlooked, it offers a fantastic array of dishes and drinks. From the traditional Māori hāngī to contemporary favourites like fish and chips, there is something for everyone.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Meat consumption | 75.2 kg per capita in 2019, comprising chicken and other poultry, pork, ham, bacon, beef, veal, lamb, and mutton |
| Dietary recommendations | The Ministry of Health recommends reducing meat consumption and increasing intake of cereals, fruits, and vegetables |
| Māori cuisine | Hāngī, a traditional earth oven-style of cooking; boil up, made of pork, potatoes, kūmara, and dumplings; pork and pūhā; rēwena or "Māori bread" |
| Influence of British cuisine | Fish and chips, roast dinners, scones, muffins, cakes |
| Seafood | Crayfish, green-lipped mussels, king salmon, tarakihi, kina (sea urchin), whitebait fritters |
| Alcoholic beverages | Full-bodied pinot noir, light and fruity sauvignon blanc, deep and peppery syrah |
| Non-alcoholic beverages | Lemon & Paeroa (L&P), Feijoa juices, kombucha, tea |
| Sweets and chocolates | Whittaker's chocolate, Pineapple Lumps, Jaffa's, Cookie Time Cookie |
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Meat and seafood
The country's most iconic recipe book, the Edmonds Cookery Book, contains a high proportion of baking recipes, reflecting New Zealanders' preference for sweet foods. The book, originally created as publicity material for a baking powder company, features cakes, scones, muffins, and other mainly sweet baking dishes.
Lamb is a favourite meat in New Zealand. The country is known for its high-quality lamb, which is held in high esteem worldwide and is one of its top meat exports. New Zealand lamb can be enjoyed as a roast, in a stew, or as part of a traditional meat pie. It is often flavoured with rosemary and served with seasonal roasted vegetables.
Beef, pork, and venison are also popular meats in New Zealand. The "meat and two veg" dinner, with beef, pork, or venison from farms, alongside boiled potatoes or steamed cabbage, was once the standard dinner for many New Zealanders. Roast beef and potatoes were also a classic meal.
Salmon and bacon, butter chicken, lamb and mint, and venison pies are award-winning meat pies in New Zealand. Steak and cheese pies are another Kiwi classic.
Seafood is also a significant part of the New Zealand diet, with the country boasting over 14,000 kilometres of coastline. Seafood has been an important part of New Zealand's food culture since the Maori arrived, bringing with them edible plants and animals from Hawaiki and Polynesia. The Maori hunted a wide range of birds and seafood, and certain seafood dishes remain popular in New Zealand today.
Green-lipped mussels, a traditional Maori staple, are a classic New Zealand seafood dish. These mussels are farmed around New Zealand and are a valuable export commodity, known for their high omega-3 fatty acid content and anti-inflammatory properties. Marlborough, especially Havelock, is famous for producing green-lipped mussels.
Crayfish, or "kōura" in the Maori language, is another quintessential New Zealand seafood dish. Kaikōura, a small town on the coast, is known for its crayfish, with "seafood caravans" dotted along the coast.
Bluff oysters, harvested in the Foveaux Strait in the south of New Zealand, are also a delicacy in New Zealand. They are widely considered some of the best-tasting oysters in the world, known for their plump, creamy texture and intense minerality.
Other popular seafood dishes in New Zealand include fish and chips, which can be found in almost every town, and kina, the New Zealand name for sea urchin, which is considered a delicacy and has been eaten for centuries.
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British influence
The diet in New Zealand has been influenced by a mix of Western and Indigenous influences. The Māori people, who have lived in New Zealand since the 14th century, brought with them food plants such as kūmara, taro, purple yam, hue, and tī-pore. They also consumed native New Zealand plants like fernroot, insects like the huhu grub, and an abundance of bird and marine life.
However, British colonisation in the 18th century significantly altered the dietary habits of the country. British influence is evident in the high consumption of red meat in New Zealand. Unlike in 19th-century Britain, where labourers consumed meat sparingly, British settlers in New Zealand ate meat abundantly, reflecting its status as a high-class food in Britain. This meat-heavy diet persists in New Zealand today, with an annual meat consumption of 75.2 kg per capita in 2019.
Another aspect of British influence is the preference for sweet foods and baked goods. Cakes, scones, muffins, and other sweet treats are commonly used to celebrate important occasions in New Zealand, resembling British traditions. The Edmonds Cookery Book, a beloved recipe book in New Zealand, features a significant proportion of baking recipes, reflecting this sweet-tooth culture.
Additionally, the classic fish and chips, known as "fush and chups" in Kiwi slang, is considered a staple meal in New Zealand. This dish has its roots in Great Britain, where the tradition of eating fish on Fridays for religious reasons elevated its popularity. While the British typically use cod, haddock, or plaice, New Zealanders often use local fish varieties such as tarahiki, hoki, red cod, blue warehou, or elephant fish.
Furthermore, New Zealand's affinity for pies, especially mince pies, can also be traced back to British influence. The country's pie flavours have evolved to include innovative combinations like 'hāngī' in a pie and creamed pāua pie, showcasing the creativity of New Zealand's bakers.
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Māori influence
The Māori influence on New Zealand's diet is significant, with many Māori food names, such as pāua, entering common usage in New Zealand English. The Māori hāngī, a traditional earth oven style of cooking, is now considered a cultural feast, and is likely to be served at large Māori gatherings. A hāngī typically includes chicken, pork, and mutton, as well as pumpkin, potato, and kūmara (sweet potato). The hāngī is best enjoyed while sitting by the beach in the summer.
When the Māori arrived in New Zealand from tropical Polynesia, they brought with them several food plants, including kūmara, taro, purple yam, hue, and tī-pore, which grew well in the north of the North Island. Kūmara could be grown as far south as the northern South Island, and it became a staple food as it could be stored over the winter. Native New Zealand plants such as fernroot became a more important part of the diet, along with insects such as the huhu grub and earthworms, called noke.
The Māori also brought with them the practice of rāhui, or resource restrictions, which involved forbidding the hunting of certain species in particular places or at certain times of the year to allow populations to be maintained. However, the large, flightless moa was soon hunted to extinction for food and tools.
In the mid-19th century, the Māori food industry declined due to land loss and competition from settler farmers. Many traditional food sources became scarce as forests were destroyed and species were over-hunted. Present-day Māori cuisine is a mixture of Māori tradition, old-fashioned English cookery, and contemporary dishes. Māori cuisine has been influenced by British cooking methods, with dishes such as boil-up (made of pork, potatoes, kūmara, and dumplings) and pork and pūhā (sow thistle) combining introduced and indigenous foods. Rewena, or "Māori bread", is made with fermented potatoes.
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Sweet treats
New Zealanders have a sweet tooth, and baking is a popular way to celebrate important occasions. Cakes, scones, and muffins are all popular, and the country's most iconic recipe book, the Edmonds Cookery Book, contains a high proportion of baking recipes.
Hokey Pokey Ice Cream
Hokey pokey is a flavour of ice cream that originated in the late 19th century. In New Zealand, the term hokey pokey' refers to vanilla ice cream with honeycomb toffee pieces. The name is thought to come from the Italian 'O che poco', meaning 'oh, how little!', which was a phrase regularly called out by street sellers.
Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Cookie Time Original Chocolate Chunk cookies are a cherished treat in New Zealand. They are crumbly, with sizeable chunks of milk chocolate.
Pineapple Lumps
Pineapple lumps are another favourite sweet in New Zealand. They are a thin layer of chocolate with a squidgy, artificial-tasting, pale yellow pineapple filling.
Hokey Pokey Honeycomb
Hokey pokey is also the name of a crisp, faux-honeycomb that features in several New Zealand desserts. One such treat is the Griffin’s Hokey Pokey Squiggle, which consists of a layer of soft cookie and hokey pokey covered in milk chocolate.
Krispies
Krispies are another type of cookie enjoyed in New Zealand. They are shortbread biscuits with a scalloped edge, a deep toasted coconut flavour, and a hint of saltiness.
Pies
Sweet pies are less common than savoury pies in New Zealand, but they are still enjoyed.
Cheese
New Zealand has several world-class cheese companies, producing a range of sheep and goat milk cheeses. The country is famous for its blue cheese, sharp vintages, and creamy soft cheeses.
Drinks
New Zealand has a unique and popular soft drink called L&P, created in 1907. It is made from lemon and carbonated water.
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Alcoholic drinks
Wine is the second most popular alcoholic drink in New Zealand, making up 23-32.4% of the total volume of alcoholic beverages consumed. There are 10 major wine-producing areas in the country, with Marlborough famed for its sauvignon blanc, Gisborne for its chardonnay, and Central Otago and Martinborough known for pinot noir and pinot gris. Hawkes 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 Hawkes Bay are New Zealand's two premium wine-growing regions.
Spirits make up the remaining 18-31.6% of the total volume of alcoholic beverages consumed in New Zealand. New Zealanders are increasingly becoming spirit drinkers, with a 21% increase in consumption in the last quarter of 2020 compared to the same quarter in 2019.
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Frequently asked questions
New Zealand's diet is varied and primarily based on local ingredients. As an island nation, seafood is a large part of the diet. The country is known for its amazing crayfish, green-lipped mussels, and king salmon. Kina, or sea urchin, is also a delicacy in New Zealand. In addition to seafood, New Zealanders also consume meat, with lamb being a favourite. New Zealand is also known for its pies, which can be found in many different flavours.
Māori cuisine is a mixture of traditional cooking and the influence of early British settlers. Typical dishes include the boil-up, which is a mixture of pork, potatoes, kūmara (a type of sweet potato), and dumplings, and pork and pūhā (a type of flowering thistle). Hāngī is also a traditional Māori cooking style that uses hot stones in an underground oven.
Traditional Māori foods include kūmara, yam, taro, and other edible plants brought from Hawaiki. Māori also hunted birds, collected seafood, and gathered native ferns, vines, palms, fungi, berries, fruit, and seeds.
New Zealand is known for its wine, including full-bodied pinot noir and light and fruity sauvignon blanc. Craft beer breweries and cideries are also gaining popularity in the country. Lemon & Paeroa (L&P), a soft drink made from lemon and carbonated water, is also popular in New Zealand.
In addition to the pies and seafood mentioned earlier, New Zealand is also known for its Whittaker's chocolate, Cookie Time Cookies, and Pineapple Lumps and Jaffa's lollies (sweets or candy). Manuka honey, famed for its health and medicinal properties, is also widely available in New Zealand.
