New Zealand

Hāngī

Meat and vegetables steamed for hours in a pit over heated stones.

Pavlova

Meringue shell with a marshmallow centre, topped with cream and kiwifruit.

Green-lipped mussels

Large native mussels steamed open in wine, sweeter than their northern cousins.

Whitebait fritter

Translucent juvenile fish bound with egg and fried whole, priced like gold.

Meat pie

Steak-and-cheese or mince, bought at a petrol station and eaten in the car.

Lamb

Grass-fed hogget roasted with rosemary, still the country's clearest export.

Kūmara

Sweet potato brought by Polynesian settlers, roasted or mashed under a roast.

Bluff oysters

Dredged wild oysters from Foveaux Strait, fat and metallic, in season for weeks.

Crayfish

Rock lobster split and grilled, bought from roadside caravans at Kaikōura.

Hokey pokey ice cream

Vanilla ice cream studded with shards of honeycomb toffee.

Afghan biscuit

Cornflake and cocoa biscuit under chocolate icing with a walnut pressed on top.

Louise cake

Shortcake base with raspberry jam and a coconut meringue lid.

Anzac biscuits

Rolled oats and golden syrup baked hard enough to travel and keep.

Cheese roll

Southland's toasted roll of bread around melted cheese and onion soup mix.

Rēwena bread

Māori sourdough leavened with a fermented potato bug, dense and faintly sour.

Fish and chips

Hoki or snapper in batter, wrapped in paper and eaten at the beach.

Manuka honey

Dark, medicinal honey from the mānuka bush, graded and sold by potency.

Feijoa

Aromatic autumn fruit halved and spooned out, given away by the bagful.

Sauvignon blanc

Marlborough white with a green, pungent bite that redefined the grape worldwide.

L&P

Lemon soda made with Paeroa mineral water, world-famous in New Zealand.