Hot Kiwi Food

Authentic, Traditional Cuisine from Aotearoa New Zealand
Dating before the first European Settlers in December 1642, the original Māori practice of steaming food started with cooking over the geothermal vents that are in Northern New Zealand, in places like Rotorua and Taupō. Much of New Zealand was heavily forested at this time, and they didn’t want to cause forest fires with their cooking. So th

ey began to wrap their food in flax which had been soaked in the local spring or river, then buried it in a pit full of fire-heated river rocks. The flax would dry out and create a natural subterranean steam oven. The practise of steaming food is common throughout Polynesia, but cooking under the ground is less common. Māori learned that it is a very sustainable and healthy way to cook food. The practise was originally referred to as “Te Kai Hangaroa” and was later shortened to “Hangi.”

There is a kiwi distinctiveness through the types of food we cook, like kumara, and locally harvested cabbage, potato, carrot and pumpkin, along with lamb, chicken and pork from kiwi farms. Hot Kiwi Food will give you the experience of a traditional Spring-Steamed Hangi with all three meats, five vegetables and a bread crumb and herb stuffing. Not just a meal, this is an experience unlike any other place in the world.