Kraft is introducing a new peanut butter to compete with Bega peanut butter, which due to some business stuff is now producing the original-recipe Kraft peanut butter. Peanut butter nutter Hayden Donnell smuggled some of the new spread into the country to test it ahead of its release here. Kraft peanut butter was once the … Read more
Whitebait season is here, and Forest and Bird is steaming mad about it. Why are we serving endangered fish in home kitchens and cafes alike? And where are the catch limits? What’s all this then? Set the nets and get out your gummies – it’s whitebait season, and nothing tastes better than an endangered fish. … Read more
For many in the restaurant industry, Anthony Bourdain’s death hit close to home, so a group of hospo friends decided to build something positive out of the sadness. When Dariush Lolaiy got home after work at his Auckland restaurant Cazador late one night in June, he saw a text from his head chef Brendan Kyle … Read more
Reflecting on the highs and lows of multiple circumnavigations of a beery concrete concourse. At the weekend, The Spinoff’s most enthusiastic consumer of beer made a pilgrimage to our nation’s capital to attend Beervana. For the uninitiated, Beervana is a big craft beer festival held over two days every August in the cosy concrete concourse … Read more
Whether making Somali sauces or Nepali dumplings, former refugees are providing income for their families and delicious food for the rest of us. New Zealanders who have arrived here as refugees make up an ever-increasing part of the food scene in Aotearoa. Thank goodness! Can you imagine eating only the foods of your home culture … Read more
‘Too much of anything is bad, but too much champagne is just right,’ according to Mark Twain. Simon Day has a cleansing glass of bubbles (or three) to go with a history lesson on champagne. Champagne and fried chicken make surprisingly good tablemates. The sharp, cleansing effervescence of the wine cuts through the rich fattiness … Read more
No blender required, says south Taranaki iwi-owned enterprise Kaitahi, whose frozen smoothie drops using Māori ingredients have tapped into the convenient ‘superfoods’ market. Jihee Junn talks to business development manager Leonie Matoe about how Kaitahi’s innovative drops are reviving the use (and growth) of indigenous ingredients. Fossil fuels have long powered Taranaki’s economic engine. But … Read more
Two Kiwi dairy devotees feel right at home in the northern Indian state that’s mad for milk products. Ardent carnivores may struggle in Amritsar, the second biggest city in Punjab state, India. In the bright sandstone main square, signs at the doors of Maccas and Subway declare them strictly vegetarian eateries, and most restaurant menus are … Read more
Meet the UK chef inspiring his Kiwi counterparts with a radical approach to food waste. At Silo Brighton, Doug McMaster binned the bin. More accurately, the English chef binned the concept of the bin — there’s never been one at his restaurant, which opened four years ago in the heart of the famous seaside town. … Read more
With its fascinating regional diversity, New Zealand’s most popular red has evolved into a wine that’s making the world sit up and take notice. Pinot noir is a fickle friend. It’s one of the most difficult grapes to grow and wines to make. It requires a sunny, cool climate; its tightly clustered bunches are particularly … Read more
Alex Casey counts down the most intriguing Instagrammed breakfasts of Sir The Mad Butcher. I don’t know about your social media diet, but I am sick of scrolling through endless pictures of smoothie bowls, protein oats and mermaid toast wondering when a foodie influencer will finally post something a) actually relatable or b) actually yum. … Read more
A lily-livered foreigner braves the fiery cauldron that is Chóngqìng’s specialty. You know your food’s going to be fucking hot when the restaurant has installed a sprinkler system to spray you with a cooling mist while you eat. Recovering in the comfort of my hostel 24 hours after my first Chóngqìng hotpot (huǒ guō), I … Read more
Food and drink are the source of many memories. Simon Day remembers a hangover and his childhood with milkshake guru Matt Fitzgerald. Of all the scenes from 1982’s Spielberg science fiction classic E.T. to be preserved in Matt Fitzgerald’s mind, it’s the moment young Elliott is sent out to get pizza by his brothers that’s … Read more
Finally, the definitive ranking of Aotearoa’s favourite snack – featuring notes of burnt marshmallow, wet undies and duplicitous giraffes. This post was first published in August 2018 Pastry-bound parcels of deliciousness have been in the news a bit recently. Earlier in the week, the nation’s best pies were lauded at a (presumably) glittering awards ceremony, which … Read more
Sure, cheffing is a male-dominated industry, but shouldn’t food festivals be leading the way in promoting equality? An event at upcoming food festival Visa Wellington on a Plate insists “the future of food is female”, bringing together five woman chefs to chat about the topic with broadcaster Susie Ferguson. Meanwhile, the Auckland equivalent, American Express … Read more
In a world replete with generic knives, Auckland chefs are moving towards something a little more special. Sam Mannering’s favourite knife is the one that cut his finger off. Forged by legendary Kiwi craftsman Peter Lorimer in Omakau, Central Otago, the knife sliced so cleanly through the bone of Mannering’s left index finger, just above … Read more
Choosing ethically produced meat and eggs at the supermarket is now a no-brainer for many of us, but not so long ago it wasn’t even an option. Like many people, Gregor Fyfe loves bacon. Always has. What he doesn’t love is not knowing how and where the pig that provided his bacon was raised. But … Read more
A select committee has proposed limiting the kinds of products the Consumers’ Right to Know (Country of Origin of Food) Bill will apply to, and plenty of folk ain’t happy about it. What’s the story? Back in 2016, then Green MP Steffan Browning introduced a member’s bill that proposed mandatory country-of-origin labelling (CoOL) on all … Read more
Featuring hints of marshmallow, Prince Charles, booze-soaked shoes and being bullied by a large Scottish man named Paul. This story originally ran in Barker’s 1972 magazine. It was 11am and I was drunk. Whisky was dribbling over the top of my glass and a large Scottish man was standing over me yelling, “Is that enough?” He … Read more
The world’s greatest spread underwent some frightening changes recently. Hayden Donnell delves into the animosity and legal wrangling behind the death and rebirth of Kraft Peanut Butter. The world of marketing is riven with betrayal. Taste the rainbow. The best a man can get. Don’t be evil. All broken promises. There’s only one tagline that’s … Read more
Three easy-as PB recipes for the toast lover in your life. Peanut butter is one of the greatest foods in existence. It’s varied, versatile and deliciously simple. And it’s also one of the easiest things to actually make yourself. Why would you fund someone else’s career crisis at $8.50 a jar when you can supplement … Read more
The Spinoff Board of Review visited Texas Chicken on west Auckland’s Lincoln Rd to see if its Fiery Crunch Chicken was, as claimed, the “spiciest fried chicken in New Zealand”. This was a test, right? What is stronger – the love of fried food or the fear of looking stupid in front of your workmates? Chicken or … Read more
Biddy Fraser-Davies of Cwmglyn Farmhouse Cheese passed away on 13 July, aged 76. Her friend, cheesemonger Calum Hodgson, pays tribute. I would call cheesemaker Biddy Fraser-Davies on my commutes home from Auckland CBD to Whangaparāoa. I’d been making these calls to Biddy every other day now for the last three years, discussing everything from Eketahuna’s … Read more
Meat on aeroplanes has unexpectedly emerged as a critical political fault line. Madeleine Chapman speaks to Mark Patterson, the farmer politician with the chops. Like a locally slaughtered snag in a slice of Tip Top white bread, Mark Patterson has made himself at home in parliament. By picking an issue and sticking with it, Patterson … Read more
Today it’s babies and playgrounds, but parliament’s early days were more like a drunken party. This story was originally published on RNZ On the night of 14 June 1984, a drunken Prime Minister Robert Muldoon staggered down a Beehive corridor and announced a snap election to a moustachioed, beige-suit-wearing press pack. “It doesn’t give you … Read more
Gatherings’ Alex Davies is leading a quiet revolution with quirky, delicious food that happens to be plant-based. In just over a year since it first opened, Christchurch’s Gatherings restaurant has made a name for itself not simply for its innovative menu, but for asking us to rethink our whole attitude to food. Owner and head … Read more
Nothing goes better with cheap food than cheaper wine drunk quickly. Here are the 10 best BYO spots in New Zealand, as submitted by you. Ah, the BYO, most depraved of dining methods! Sinking seven standards with the fam and boofing a bit of Thai – it’s the degustation for the modern lad. What better … Read more
A bottle of the (former) PM’s Pinot All Noir came into our correspondent’s possession via a shady route of backdoor deals and dirty politics… but no ponytails were harmed. This weekend, I sat in my rented Grey Lynn villa as the wind blew literal puddles of rain through the huge gap under the front door, … Read more
Fill the void of those long, lonely winter nights with a dark beer – there’s one out there for you, we promise. There’s no denying that these are dark times, friends – both symbolically and literally. Yes, the world has gone to hell in a handcart, but more pressingly, it’s winter. It’s cold. Even the … Read more