“What is New Zealand food?”
And it is actually a harder question to answer than you might think!
New Zealand does not really have one single style of food. What we eat today has been shaped by Māori traditions, British and particularly English settlers, our farming heritage, the sea, fantastic local produce, and generations of Kiwis putting their own spin on everyday favourites.
That is why you'll find everything from hāngī and kūmara to meat pies, fish and chips, roast lamb and some slightly quirky Kiwi favourites that you may not find anywhere else.
So if you're travelling around New Zealand and wondering what you absolutely have to try while you're here, these are the foods we'd recommend.
If there is one everyday Kiwi food you should try while you're here, make it a meat pie.
Pies have their roots in British food traditions, but they have well and truly become part of everyday life in New Zealand. You'll find them everywhere — bakeries, cafés, petrol stations and little towns right across the country.
There are endless flavours these days, but some of the classics are:
Steak and cheese
Mince and cheese
Bacon and egg
Steak and mushroom
And a more modern Kiwi favourite, butter chicken
A good Kiwi pie should have flaky pastry, plenty of filling and preferably be eaten while trying not to drop half of it down the front of your shirt.
They're not fancy, but we love them.
Another favourite that came to New Zealand with British settlers and became firmly part of Kiwi life is fish and chips. There's something very New Zealand about picking up a hot bundle of fish and chips and taking it down to the beach.
Depending on where you are travelling, the fish might be hoki, snapper, tarakihi, blue cod or whatever the local catch happens to be. For the full experience, get a good scoop of chips, add some tomato sauce and maybe throw in a pineapple fritter if you're feeling adventurous.
And yes, eating them outside while trying to stop the seagulls from stealing your lunch probably makes the experience even more authentic.
If you have the opportunity to try a traditional Māori hāngī while travelling around New Zealand, it is well worth doing. A hāngī is traditionally cooked in an earth oven using heated stones, with food slowly cooked underground.
The slow cooking gives the food its own distinctive flavour, but a hāngī is about much more than simply what's on the plate. It has strong connections to Māori culture, whānau, hospitality and sharing food together.
If you're looking for a traditional New Zealand food experience, put this one on your list.
You really can't come to New Zealand and not try hokey pokey ice cream. Hokey pokey is vanilla ice cream filled with little crunchy pieces of honeycomb toffee.
On a hot day, find a local dairy or ice cream shop, grab yourself a cone and give it a go.
Just remember that in New Zealand, a dairy isn't necessarily somewhere with cows — it's what we call our little neighbourhood convenience stores!
Now we're entering dangerous territory.
New Zealanders and Australians have been arguing over pavlova for years, and we're quite happy to keep the debate going. Naturally, we're putting it on the New Zealand list!
Pavlova is a meringue dessert with a crisp outer shell and a lovely soft, marshmallow-like centre. It is usually piled high with whipped cream and topped with fresh fruit such as strawberries, kiwifruit or passionfruit. You'll often see a pavlova appear at Christmas lunch, birthdays and family get-togethers.
Whatever side of the pavlova debate you land on, it has definitely earned its place on the Kiwi dessert table.
New Zealand is famous around the world for its lamb, so if you enjoy meat, it's definitely worth trying while you're here. A traditional Kiwi roast lamb is hard to beat — usually served with roast potatoes and vegetables, gravy and perhaps a bit of mint sauce.
Our love of a Sunday roast has strong British roots, but New Zealand's farming history and quality lamb have made it very much part of Kiwi food culture. These days you'll also see lamb cooked in all sorts of ways, from lamb racks and slow-cooked shoulders to burgers, salads and modern restaurant dishes.
If you're visiting New Zealand for the first time, it's worth ordering at least once.
If you're a seafood lover, look out for New Zealand green-lipped mussels. They're easy to recognise by the distinctive green edge around their shells and are grown around our coastline.
You'll see them in restaurants, seafood shops and markets, particularly when travelling through coastal areas. They might be steamed with white wine, served in a creamy sauce, added to seafood chowder or simply cooked with garlic and herbs.
They're big, tasty and unmistakably New Zealand.
Another one for the seafood lovers.
Island, where you'll find seafood caravans and local spots serving fresh crayfish.
They're certainly not the cheapest item on our list, but if you love seafood and feel like splashing out while you're travelling, they're pretty special.
You'll see the word kūmara on menus all over New Zealand.
We have several varieties, including red, gold and orange kūmara. You'll find it roasted, mashed, made into chips, tossed through salads or served as part of a hāngī.
It's simple, delicious and something you'll come across again and again while travelling around New Zealand.
If you happen to visit New Zealand during feijoa season, usually in autumn, you will very quickly discover how serious Kiwis are about these funny little green fruits.
Feijoas have a sweet, fragrant flavour that's quite difficult to describe if you've never had one. The Kiwi way to eat them is simple: cut one in half and scoop the inside out with a teaspoon. And
People with feijoa trees invariably end up with far more fruit than they know what to do with, so bags and buckets of them start appearing at workplaces, neighbours' houses and front gates. You'll also find feijoas in cakes, chutneys, drinks, desserts and even alcohol.
They didn't originate in New Zealand, but the grown very well here and we've certainly adopted them as one of our own.
This one definitely isn't gourmet. But it is very Kiwi. Classic Kiwi onion dip is traditionally made with reduced cream, onion soup mix and a squeeze of lemon juice.
That's basically it.
Mix it together, chill it and open a bag of potato chips. It has been appearing at Kiwi parties, barbecues, birthdays and family gatherings for decades.
If you've got Kiwi friends while you're here, there's a reasonable chance a bowl of it will eventually appear in front of you.
And finally, you'll need something to wash all that food down with. L&P stands for Lemon & Paeroa and is one of New Zealand's most recognisable soft drinks.
It takes its name from the Waikato town of Paeroa, where the drink originated using local mineral water and lemon. Today you'll find it in supermarkets, dairies and petrol stations right across New Zealand.
It's sweet, lemony and very Kiwi.
And if your travels take you through Paeroa, make sure you stop for the obligatory photo with the giant L&P bottle.
A Few More Kiwi Treats Worth Trying
We couldn't quite stop at 12.
If you've still got room, there are a few other favourites worth keeping an eye out for during your travels.
Whittaker's Chocolate
A much-loved New Zealand chocolate brand. There are plenty of flavours, so choosing just one might be the hardest part.
Pineapple Lumps
Chewy pineapple-flavoured centres covered in chocolate. They sound a little odd, but they're a Kiwi classic.
ANZAC Biscuits
Crunchy, oaty biscuits traditionally made with rolled oats, coconut and golden syrup.
Afghan Biscuits
A classic Kiwi chocolate biscuit topped with chocolate icing and a walnut.
Cheese Rolls
A South Island favourite — bread rolled around a cheesy onion filling and toasted until golden. If you're travelling around the lower South Island, definitely look out for them.
So, What Food Is New Zealand Famous For?
If we had to narrow it down, some of the foods most associated with New Zealand would probably be:
Meat pies, fish and chips, hāngī, pavlova, lamb, green-lipped mussels, kūmara and hokey pokey ice cream.
But we think part of the fun of travelling around New Zealand is trying the ordinary things as well as the famous ones. Sometimes your favourite food memory won't come from an expensive restaurant. It might be a hot pie from a tiny small-town bakery, fish and chips sitting beside the sea, or a massive ice cream from a local dairy after a long day exploring.
And that's all part of the experience.
Like more advice? Ask a Kiwi — the person, not the bird or the fruit!
If you're travelling around New Zealand, don't be afraid to ask the locals what they recommend. Kiwis love telling people about their favourite bakery, fish and chip shop, café or ice cream place and quite often those recommendations will lead you somewhere you never would have found on your own.
So if you're joining us for a cave tour, feel free to ask your guide.
“What should we eat next?”
Chances are, they'll have a few suggestions!
And we're sure we've forgotten something — what Kiwi food would you add to the list? If we've missed one of your favourites, let us know in the comments below.