New Zealand Cuisine

Cuisine Influences

New Zealand's Pacific Rim cuisine draws inspiration from Europe, Asia and Polynesia. This blend of influences has created a mouth-watering range of flavours and food. For dishes that have a distinctly New Zealand style, there's lamb, pork and cervena (venison), salmon, crayfish (lobster), Bluff oysters, paua (abalone), mussels, scallops, pipis and tuatua (both are types of New Zealand shellfish); kumara (sweet potato); kiwifruit and tamarillo; and pavlova, the national dessert.

Casual Kiwi Cuisine

The New Zealand summer sees many eating outdoors, often in a barbecue setting. Kiwi barbecues - featuring New Zealand beef, lamb and seafood - are a big part of the culture, and typify the laid-back nature of the New Zealand people.

 


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