Easy baking to celebrate the best of late-summer fruit. This week and next, I’m sharing two recipes inspired by wild blackberries. Having grown up in the suburbs of Auckland, blackberry bushes were rather hard to come by, but now I find myself living a semi-rural lifestyle in the regions, blackberry bushes are rather hard to … Read more
Is switching to compostable packaging a solution for New Zealand’s plastic problem? Don’t get too excited too soon, warn experts. Public understanding of waste management in New Zealand has often been defined by magical thinking. If you throw a coke bottle in a recycling bin, then it will be recycled, and it’s not your problem … Read more
You may be far from civilisation, but there’s no need to resort to the depressing or the dehydrated while getting amongst the wilderness. There is very little room for fanciness when you have to carry your whole kitchen on your back. When you take to New Zealand’s great wilderness, trekking from DOC hut to DOC … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Jihee Junn taste tests Magnum’s new dairy-free ice cream. Being lactose intolerant (along with about 90% of the east Asian population), there are few things I miss more than chowing down on a nice cold Magnum. Growing up, my … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Whittaker’s controversial coconut ice ‘gender reveal’ chocolate. Whittaker’s latest release is inspired both by that classic Kiwi school fair staple, coconut ice, and by the bizarre phenomenon of the baby gender reveal party. (If you’re not familiar, that’s when … Read more
Women from migrant and refugee backgrounds celebrate food and storytelling from their diverse cultures at Renu Sikka’s Auckland workshops. “Food is something that connects people,” says Renu Sikka. “It sparks that conversation.” Sikka is a teacher at Henderson Primary School in Auckland, and in her spare time runs workshops – mainly based around food – for … Read more
Resist the call of the vending machine by having a batch of these tucked away for afternoon cravings. There’s nothing like having something nutritious and delicious on hand for when the afternoon cravings strike and you need an instant fix. The recipes that follow are quick and easy and make a generous batch of toasted … Read more
Dietary Requirements is The Spinoff’s monthly podcast in which we eat, drink and talk about it too, with special thanks to Freedom Farms. Back in January, we had Al Brown round for a barbecue and recorded a podcast while we were at it. A grand time was had by all, but as Simon Day poignantly relayed … Read more
Emily Writes is hungry so she wrote about sandwiches, the most perfect food in the universe. My husband is a healthy-eating type of person which is quite grating, since I’m not. About a year ago he decided bread was bad and my life has been challenging ever since. I decided after a short January break … Read more
Five years since they were launched, a proposed overhaul of the Health Star Ratings could see one in five products have their ratings changed. But does it really go far enough? When the Health Star Ratings were launched back in 2014, their intentions were not only noble, but necessary. Packaged foods and processed items were … Read more
Composting plays a huge role in the fight against climate change, but how do we inspire people to actually do it? Dr Niki Harre doesn’t talk about behaviour change when it comes to sustainability. Instead, she talks about cultural transformation, the likes of which we’re seeing play out before our eyes. This transformation is what … Read more
It might feel like Cadbury has done enough damage already, but things could just be getting started. First Cadbury came for Roses, and we all screamed. Then they came for the marshmallow eggs, and we all screamed again. Then they cut down their Family Bar size, and we started to tire of screaming. When their … Read more
Jo Bates tracks down the elusive sweet Middle Eastern cheese delicacy that is as at home on the breakfast table as it is on a dessert menu. It’s hard to keep up with Yael Shochat’s enthusiasm for knafeh. She’s exuberant on the topic of almost any comestible, but the soft, gooey cheese dish holds a … Read more
Reboot your school lunch repertoire – or your office lunch repertoire, for that matter – with a delicious new sandwich filling. I feel as though the school holidays were over even before they started, despite my initial feelings of trepidation at the thought of making it through six long weeks with three kids under six! … Read more
Bex de Prospo went from running music venues to spruiking ants and locusts to the country’s best restaurants. Now, after three years of trying to make a difference, she explains why Christchurch startup Anteater is shutting its doors. As we stood, evicted, on the side of a remote road in Cambodia, watching our tuk tuk … Read more
Alex Casey chews on the serious issues with Nela Zisser, competitive eater and YouTube sensation. Nela Zisser is planning her next big meal: an entire block of butter. Or perhaps three kilos of fish and chips. Or perhaps another attempt at eating 100 McDonald’s cheeseburgers. Despite the YouTube star being six years into her competitive … Read more
In which Al Brown praised Simon Day’s grillin’ skills and we got it on tape… and then disaster struck. But don’t worry, the recipes survive. If legendary chef Al Brown demands you cook his own recipes for him, you spend all night in the kitchen. And when he tells you how delicious everything is and … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, the new Primo x Tip Top collaborative flavoured milks. Before Lewis Road Creamery came along and changed the flavoured milk landscape in New Zealand forever, there was Primo. Primo was humble – it was the everyman’s milk. It came … Read more
It’s Waitangi Day! Time to learn, respect, honour the treaty and eat some yum AF food. The ol’ midweek public holiday can sneak up on you – suddenly you don’t have to go to work but alas, you have no plans. Never fear: there are many cool Waitangi Day events happening around the country, all … Read more
The government has pulled its backing for big irrigation projects, but smaller ones are still getting financial support. RNZ’s Eric Frykberg looks at the balance between keeping farmers and growers in business and improving the quality of water in streams and rivers. This story originally ran on RNZ – Listen to the full Insight documentary here Stu Wright’s … Read more
When it’s too hot to do more than throw a few ingredients together, this simple, elegant salad fits the bill perfectly. This salad is a celebration of summer and quality ingredients. The star of the show is without a doubt the peach: golden, sweet and slightly perfumed. When paired with the bite of the red … Read more
We devise a genius plan to return the tragically transformed seasonal treats to their former glory. It was this week revealed that corporate choc-monster Cadbury has committed yet another crime against a beloved New Zealand product. In the latest unforgivable act, marshmallow Easter eggs, widely regarded as the best thing about the long, long, long … Read more
Keen to choose ethically produced meat, but feeling thoroughly confused by the options in the butchery aisle? Here, Jane Lyons attempts to shine some light on the murky world of meat labelling, and shares some tips for making better choices. This story originally ran in Stone Soup There isn’t really a guide for meat terms … Read more
A few extra zingy ingredients give the traditional corn fritter a real flavour boost. Here in the heart of our wee rural Taranaki village there is a woman who has three acres of land and on it every year she grows the most delicious spray-free sweetcorn. As the summer wears on, I find myself taking … Read more
Following on from inappropriate use of Māori-inspired imagery to promote New Zealand-hopped beers, several British craft breweries appear to think ‘Māori pale ale’ is a beer style. The United Kingdom might be half a world away from New Zealand, but it hasn’t stopped at least three British breweries from using the term ‘Māori’ to describe … Read more
The hours are long and lonely, your creations are constantly criticised and alcohol is everywhere – is it any wonder many brewers are struggling? Content warning: suicidal thoughts From the outside, the beer industry seems like a brilliant lifestyle choice. What could be better than making beer all day, drinking free beer at night, selling … Read more
A Melbourne bar that used an image of a 19th-century St Kilda mayor with tā moko drawn on to promote a New Zealand beer showcase has been accused of mocking Māori culture. This story was originally published on RNZ A Melbourne bar has been criticised for using an image of a former St Kilda mayor … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Don Rowe encounters New Zealand’s best steak and cheese pie. The Steak and Cheese Index is the one true measure of whether or not a bakery is worth its crust. All establishments live and die by their flagship pie, … Read more
Burger pop-up Goldburger’s foray into Auckland had Samuel Flynn Scott excited – and apprehensive. I have a very difficult relationship with burgers. They kinda make me insane. Nothing lives up to my ridiculous standards and stupid rules. Plus you kinda know they are killing you slowly with each juicy bite. But I soldier on. Chef … Read more