Guilt-free festival feast
Crunchy, salty fish and chips are a classic Kiwi favourite but when was the last time you considered where that slab of fish came from?
A group of Kiwi food advocates want that question to be at the forefront of your mind and are spreading their message by showing off New Zealand’s unlikely edible offerings, including fish heads and foraged fruits.
Talking Plates, an Eat New Zealand initiative, is a pop-up kitchen set to fuel crowds at events and fairs around the country. It will launch at Christchurch’s Nostalgia festival on Saturday.
With fish head broth, fiery dumplings and local wild fruits on the launch menu, Eat New Zealand chief executive Angela Clifford said she hoped it would be a chance to ‘‘get people thinking about what they can do personally to change the way we grow, catch, purchase and prepare our food’’.
Clifford previously said it was time to start a conversation about eating native animals and to stop importing our ‘‘food culture’’ from other countries. She also runs workshops on growing crops, fermenting vegetables, dehydration and bottling.
Three Canterbury chefs – Alex Davies from Gatherings, Aliesha Gabrielle from Fresh Press Pizza, and Carlos Rodriguez from 27 Steps – will serve meals highlighting sustainable fishing and locally grown grains.
Their fish dish would utilise the whole fish, sourced from the closest independent fisher, and highlight the Kai Ika Project, Clifford said. The vast majority of fish eaters eat only the fillets, meaning thousands of fish heads and frames are dumped at sea, on beaches and in the rubbish.
‘‘We want the plates to do the talking – fish are our most precious taonga or treasure, so there’ll be a discussion about sustainable fishing, particularly utilising the whole fish,’’ Clifford said.
To address the waste, the Kai Ika Project facilitates getting discarded fish remains to groups who can use them.
Wheat from Milmore Down in North Canterbury will be used to make the bruschetta, while seaweed and coastal plants sourced from Pegasus Bay and wild stone fruits and produce from community gardens will be used in the dessert as a ‘‘reminder that our wild spaces are important in our food resilience conversation, particularly in places like the red zones’’.
Clifford said she hoped to roll out Talking Plates events throughout the country including at Wellington on a Plate and Taste Auckland.
Nostalgia Festival director Johnny Gibson said Eat New Zealand shared a similar ethos to Nostalgia in wanting to celebrate local produce and champion the best the country had to offer.
The event will have more than 20 food vendors on site offering healthy, interesting food made ethically and served in sustainable packaging to coincide with the festival’s goal of limiting waste. Festivalgoers should expect market style food, veganfriendly options and Instagram-worthy cakes.
‘‘We certainly don’t have hot dogs and candy floss,’’ he said.