Seventy years of cookbooks have defined New Zealand cuisine as rooted within our colonial past, influenced more recently by the diverse fare of new immigrants, especially Asian. Writer and food stylist Christall Lowe (Ngāti Kauwhata, Ngāti Maniapoto) serves up a different interpretation in Kai: Food Stories and Recipes from My Family Table, bringing truly authentic indigenous flavours –firmly situated in stories of whānau – to our plates. David Cohen’s The RNZ Cookbook is a treasury of 180 recipes from New Zealand’s best-known chefs and food writers, broadcast on RNZ over the decades. Al Brown is a leading New Zealand chef, restaurateur, the author of seven cookbooks and popular face of TV shows Hunger for the Wild, Coasters, Get Fresh and Dishing Up Australia. Prominent food writer, MasterChef UK judge and Telegraph restaurant critic William Sitwell sits down with all three for a conversation about the evolution of food culture in Aotearoa and how what we cook informs who we are as a people.

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Last updated: 22 March 2023