Welcome to the first of my kiwi culinary musings. We start with a general overview of eating fresh in New Zealand.

As with anywhere you can eat a load of old crap. However if you ask around and look a little harder you can find some top quality food, made great by it's ingredients. Lou and I have been fortunate enough to stay on a small holding with Burton, a man well up on his biodynamic farming, and Alison, a professional chef with a sound knowledge of organics. Around 80% of what we have been eating has come from their own produce or from food they exchange with friends. The highlights are the weekly avocado delivery and fresh milk every day from Millie, the jersey cow currently grazing amongst the runner beans.

My suggestion if you want to cook with good ingredients whilst holidaying in New Zealand is to find the local farmers market. Many farmers will advertise if they use sustainable or organic methods. They'll be happy to talk to you about where the food has come from.

There is also many a cafe or restaurant using great ingredients. For instance, Chim Choo Cheree is a restaurant in Hamilton which uses Millie's milk and Burton's plums in their award winning panna cotta. Down the road from them is Grey St. Kitchen which uses beautiful organic produce including ciabatta from Volare, the same people Burton gets his bread from when he does his Saturday market stall. You add a few dollars for the privilege of eating in these places, but the difference works out at about 2 or 3 pounds and so much more in terms of quality.

So there you have it. 2 weeks digging spuds and he thinks he's an expert. Future blogs will focus on tasty gelati and breakfast the Kiwi way

Cheers

Mike