This week Cuisine Magazine’s Top 50 Women in Food and Drink were honoured, with Raukura Huata and Nancye Pirini among those recognised for sharing the fruits of their manaakitanga with the world.
These wāhine were celebrated in Tāmaki Makaurau, coinciding with International Women’s Day.
“Kei konei mātou e whakanui ana i te wahine, i ngā wāhine, i ngā māreikura, e pupuritia ana ki te manaakitanga o te tēpu kai,” Huata says.
Huata, a Māori chef and co-founder of Hiakai, has a following of 100,000 across social media platforms. She is best known for her culinary storytelling - putting a contemporary spin on traditional Māori dishes.
Through her digital presence and mahi with restaurateurs, winemakers and producers, Huata amplifies indigenous food, intergenerational knowledge and the cultural significance of kai.
“Kua rongonui [ngā] kai o Kahungunu i roto i ngā pūrākau, i ngā waiata, ngā mōteatea.”
Over the past year she has delivered wine pairings, educational experiences and served as sommelier at Tohunga Tūmau.
She credits her māmā, her kuia and many wāhine marae as the primary influences in her culinary journey.
“Ko tēnei ao e noho nei au, he ao whai utu, he ao whai pūtea. Engari kāore he manaakitanga i tua atu i te manaakitanga o te marae, o te wharekai.”
The Top 50 initiative is run by Women in Food and Drink New Zealand - a national organisation formed to connect women working across the country’s food and beverage industries.
Kelli Brett, Director of Women in Food and Drink, says the event was created to recognise the many wāhine working across the sector.
“[There are] so many layers of the food and drink industry and these women work behind scenes that are never recognised.”
Despite this growing recognition, statistics suggest more than 80 percent of head chefs in commercial kitchens worldwide are men.
“Especially in the hospitality leaders and that’s for many reasons,” Brett adds.
“Women, they’ll work a certain amount of their career, and then they will go away and they’ll have their babies [and] then they’ll find it very hard to get back into the industry.”
Brett says many employers are aiming to cater more to working mothers in the industry.
Nancye Pirini (Te Whānau ā Apanui) says she feels honoured to be named in the Top 50.
Pirini is the executive chef of Te Kaahu at Te Arikinui Pullman Airport Hotel in Tāmaki Makaurau, where she leads one of the country’s most culturally significant hotel restaurants.
“I think naturally as a Māori, we’re brought up in hospitality, in manaakitanga.”
A respected leader in the contemporary food scene, Pirini is also an advocate for Māori and Pacific representation in modern dining.
Her career took off under renowned chef Peter Gordon, where she honed her craft.
“He’s like the godfather to me,” she says.
“He’s been a mentor a friend, family, and he’s just somebody that’s always been there for me.”
She says her current team is around 70 percent male, and many people still struggle to accept that a female can be an
“I probably feel like I had to climb as many ladders, you know, to take more steps up that ladder than my male counterparts,” she explains.
“Even [today], contractors will still walk into the kitchen and ignore me and walk straight to the males and be like, oh are you the head chef?And they were like no, she is over there.”
Pirini says she’s worked hard to get here, and is hopeful for other wāhine in the industry.
“We’ve still got a long way to go with that and hoping that through my experiences, [that] it inspires somebody else to pick up the knives.”
Huata says there are many pathways for women within the food and hospitality industries.
“He nui kē atu ngā ara mā te wahine. Ehara i te mea me noho muri te wahine ki roto i te kāuta, pai te noho a te tāne ki roto rā,” she adds.
“Ko te auaha o te ao kai, kei ngā wāhine.”
