We may not have a national dish that everyone can agree upon, but there's an abundance of delicious, unique food (or Kai, in Te Reo Māori) throughout the country.
The staple food of the majority of the people in New Zealand is Kumara, Rewena Pararoa, Manuka, and seafood. Each food has its own specialty and is strictly made from the local, indigenous ingredients found on the island.
A small island nation home to around 4.5 million people located in the Pacific Ocean, New Zealand is famous for its national rugby team, its indigenous Maori culture and its picturesque landscape.
Beef and lamb
Although New Zealanders have long thought of themselves as sheep-meat eaters, more beef has always been eaten. Until the 1960s more hogget (one- to two-year-old sheep) and mutton (older sheep) was eaten than lamb (less than one year old).
A typical New Zealand breakfast is usually quite a light, 'continental' style combination of cereal or toast with coffee, tea, juice, or milk. If you're lucky enough to be eating out for breakfast, you will likely come across a 'Cooked Breakfast'.
Environment – it's a plant paradise. New Zealand's position in the world provides the right ingredients to grow a wide variety of healthy produce. Great soil, clean air, plenty of water, and a temperate climate – they all create the perfect growing conditions.
As of Q3 2022, hamburgers, mashed potatoes, and cheeseburgers were the most popular American dishes in the United States (U.S.). About 84 percent of respondents had a positive opinion of each of the three dishes.
The national cuisine Americans like most is … Italian food. According to an International survey conducted by YouGov, 88 percent of Americans surveyed said they have tried and like Italian cuisine. Judging from the fact that pizza and pasta are undeniable U.S. diet staples, that's not surprising.
The Māori word for food is kai. Traditional kai involved food-gathering with extensive cultivation of the kumara (a sweet potato). Tī Kōuka (cabbage trees) were also harvested for the kauru and the taproot, both of which were eaten.
Many have long eaten oats for breakfast as porridge or, more recently, in muesli. Rice and pasta have become more commonly eaten as new immigrants have influenced New Zealand's cuisine.
Lunch. Kiwis don't really have a heavy lunch as dinner is the main course of the day. Sometimes, they may have had a cooked breakfast in the morning so they won't feel too hungry during lunch. Usually, New Zealanders enjoy sandwiches, meat pies, or salads for lunch.
Christmas lunches commonly include hot meat, with lamb and ham being the most popular, root vegetables such as potato and kūmara (sweet potato), and a variety of salads. As appropriate for the often warm summer temperatures of the day, it has become popular to serve cold meats and seafood.
Keep your kitchen stocked with healthy wholefood staples
Thinks foods like canned beans, chickpeas, lentils and corn kernels, tinned tuna, salmon and sardines, eggs, popcorn, frozen berries, frozen vegetables, ricotta and cottage cheese, natural yoghurt, oats, raw nuts and seeds.
There are 4 main food groups to eat from every day to get the nutrients you need for your physical and mental health. These are vegetables and fruit, grain foods, milk and milk products, and protein foods.
Abbreviated to BBQ. A framework, as a grill or a spit, or a fireplace for cooking meat or vegetables over an open fire. The crown jewel of any Kiwi backyard in the summertime, the barbie is the Cooker of Food and the Epicentre of Banter.
In places like Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East, lamb is a staple and incredibly common. In the United States, most Americans eat on average a pound or less of lamb per year.
New Zealand lamb is grass fed throughout its life, unlike American lamb which is often grain finished to encourage larger size and higher body fat percentage. New Zealand lambs are smaller in size, because they were allowed to grow and develop the way nature intended.