After more than 40 years cooking in some of the world’s best restaurants, Peter Gordon ONZM (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Ngāi Tahu) says nothing quite compares to kai Māori.
He says Aotearoa’s culinary identity has evolved as Māori knowledge, ingredients and techniques have become more recognised and integrated into the food industry.
“If you’re a Māori chef doing kai Māori, this is a really good time to be alive and in the kitchen, because people have better understanding,” Gordon says.
“If we look back 20, 25 years, there was Māori food and there was New Zealand food. And now sort of the integration of some of the techniques [which] is really cool.”
Atu i Whanganui ki te ao whānui
Gordon’s culinary career began at 18 and has taken him from his hometown of Whanganui to kīhini around the world, including The Sugar Club in London and PUBLIC in New York.
“I grew up in Whanganui and I was of a generation that, we weren’t taught te reo Māori at school. So I just began cooking at a very early age and I love cooking.”
Now hailed by some as the ‘Godfather of Fusion’, Gordon says kai has helped him reconnect with his taha Māori.
“I love trying to understand some of the cultural significance of cooking - it’s the best part of your life I reckon.”
He recalls doing a hāngi for the late Kiingi Tūheitia at Tūrangawaewae, trying to put his own spin on the traditional kai.
“I said, can I do my take on this? And all the uncles said nah, we just use salt,” he laughs.
“We got things like whole sheep at Tūrangawaewae - they’d never done a whole sheep. And I rubbed the sheep with smoked paprika and fennel and olive oil, we wrapped it up in banana leaves.”
Kei te whanake te rāngai kai o Aotearoa
For Gordon, the growing recognition of Māori food is part of an ongoing evolution in Aotearoa’s culinary industry.
Māori make up 14% of Aotearoa’s hospitality and food-services workforce, compared with 6% Pacific workers, according to a report by Ringa Hora (2024). The Māori share has remained relatively stable over the past decade, while Gordon says recognition of Māori culinary knowledge is growing.
Gordon is part of Tohunga Tūmau, a collective of Māori chefs working to strengthen and celebrate kai Māori. The group includes Rewi Spraggon Kārena and Kasey Bird, Rex Morgan and Nancye Pirini.
“We get together and [ask], what is kai Māori? And it’s evolving.”
Gordon says the Bird sisters, Monique Fiso and Kia Kanuta are among the Māori chefs to watch.
Ngā tāwara kai o Te Moana Nui a Kiwa
That evolution was on display this week at the Ocean of Flavours event in Tāmaki Makaurau, where Māori and Pasifika chefs gathered to share their food, techniques and stories.
Māori and Pasifika students from MIT and AUT also worked alongside the chefs.
“Not a lot of Māori and Pasifika students get this opportunity, so its honestly something that we will not take for granted,” says MIT student Hohepa Rameka.
The uri of Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa is studying a Diploma of Cookery, and says kai has always been important to him.
“As a Māori it’s a big thing. It means love, it means family, we all come together, we eat like there’s no tomorrow obviously, yeah - it’s everything to me.”
Gordon says this is exciting for the next generation of Māori chefs.
“We didn’t have role models before because for many people, unless you’re at the marae, you wouldn’t experience kai Māori, and so now it’s like, it’s an evolution.”
He believes the growing recognition of Māori food knowledge will continue to shape Aotearoa’s cuisine.
“New Zealanders can make spaghetti which is Italian, but they don’t know about kai Māori like, how is that happening?” he adds.
“I know in 10 years it’ll be completey different to now and in 20 years it’ll be even better.”
