A taste of the Coast comes to townies

CANTERBURY GOT a taste of the West Coast over the weekend.

About 4000 Cantabrians flocked to the Great West Coast Whitebait Festival in Christchurch yesterday and queued outside the four whitebait stands for a taste of the iconic small fry.

‘‘There’s not enough whitebait to last the day,’’ Curly Tree Whitebait Company owner Moana Kerr told the Sunday Star- Times at about 1pm. ‘‘If you came back in another hour, we would be done.’’

Denise Cusdin, of Upper Riccarton, had always been a fan of whitebait. ‘‘The whitebait is beautiful,’’ she said ‘‘I would always have liked to go to the Wild Foods Festival but I never got around to it. Hopefully I can see a bit of Coast stuff here.’’

Her daughter, Emma, was not a fan of whitebait, but she was enjoying herself nonetheless. ‘‘I like the little shows that are happening,’’ she said.

John Rutherford, who had spent years catching whitebait, came with his family to the festival. ‘‘Fresh whitebait is fantastic,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s straight from the river and sometimes still wriggling when you cook it.’’

Cascade Whitebait, which was selling fresh and frozen whitebait, ran out of stock at about noon and only had patties left. By 1.30pm, one stall had run out of whitebait entirely. Event manager Sonya Matthews said about 500 kilograms – that’s around $40,000-worth at market prices – of West Coast whitebait had been brought over for the festival.

The festival is organised by the same people who run the Hokitika Wild Foods festival and it was initially going to be held over the Rugby World Cup in Christchurch. However, it had to be delayed because of the quakes, said Matthews.