Taste Hangi Tradition: New Zealand’s Culinary Signature

When you travel New Zealand you may wonder what the heck is a hangi? Well you’ve just been introduced to the word for Maori style meal tradition. Hangi means “food cooked in the ground or an earth oven,” and is sometimes also referred to as umu.

This New Zealand food and drink experience refers to a method of cooking used to produce uniquely delicious buffet meals. Meats, vegetables such as kumara or sweet potato, and other foods are wrapped in leaves and placed in earthen ovens. The tradition involves digging a pit into which heated rocks are placed. The food, which is put in baskets, is then set inside the pit and covered with wet material and soil to hold in the steam.

Food typically includes cooking steak or other meat, seafood, seafood, vegetables, soup, salads, and desserts, essentially by steam for 3 to 7 hours. There’s even a vegetarian version to accommodate today’s various eating demands.

At Whakarewarewa Thermal Village, classic in-ground pit preparation takes a slight departure by utilizing newly created vents of geothermal activity. Food is placed in a box, covered with a lid, then set into these semblances of cooking vessels crafted by Mother Nature.

While this preparation is standard at the village, it differs from strictly traditional Maori hangi. The village presents this unique version among many opportunities to learn about Maori food, dance, symbols, weapons, and various cultural aspects.

Traditional feasting Whakarewarewa might include chicken, corned beef, potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrots, bread stuffing, cabbage, corn on the cob. Dessert features steamed pudding, fruit salad, cream and custard. An alternative for the curious but smaller appetite is to sample corn on the cob prepared in the village’s Parekohuru cooking pool.

Other preparations of the Maori banquets in Rotorua, offer authentic and less touristy feasts. Funky Green Voyager Hostel is among accommodating travel hosts that arrange tours for guests to enjoy local hangi. Such side trips offer round trip bus transportation and added festivities involving tribal songs, dance, myths, legends, and spiritual stories. One such outing even offers a narrated tour through its grounds describing plants used by pharmaceutical companies for medical cures and treatment.

Whether your New Zealand vacation takes you to Auckland, Christchurch, or other destinations, it would be well worth a stop in this land of geysers to partake in the traditional feast. It would feed not only the hungry traveler’s tummy, but also the soul.