Sometimes hosts and guests competed to outdo each other with the biggest feast and greatest hospitality. Traditional feasts. Hākari were held to mark events and rituals, including: the tohi …

The hākari (feast) for a child’s tūā (naming rite) might involve up to four hāngī ovens, the food from which was ceremonially distributed. For the tohi ceremony, in which a child was …

Te Whatuiāpiti of Ngāti Kahungunu held a feast called Wharepunga. Another chief, Te Angiangi, went to the feast and received two calabashes of preserved food. Te Angiangi hosted a return …

The hākari (feast) for a child’s tūā (naming rite) might involve up to four hāngī ovens, the food from which was ceremonially distributed. For the tohi ceremony, in which a child was …

A kaihaukai was a traditional feast in which a tribe from one area met with a tribe from another and exchanged foods which were specific to their region. Teone (Hōne) Taare Tīkao gave an …

At this feast at Matatā in the Bay of Plenty in the mid-19th century, food is conspicuously displayed. Fish, possibly shark, is being dried, and baskets of food have been put on the …

The appearance of Matariki ‘was marked by feasting and by what the Maori term “Nga mahi a te rehia” – the arts of pleasure, such as dancing, singing, the playing of many forms of games, …

A valued resource Kurī flesh was considered a delicacy. A number of places were named for feasts where dog meat was on the menu. Hikawera, in Hawke’s Bay, a chief at Waiohiki, …

In 1844 Waikato chiefs hosted a week-long feast near Mt Hobson in Remuera. It was attended by about 4,000 Māori and many Pākehā, including an official party led by Governor Robert …

Life in Māori villages revolved around acquiring food for the community, whether by growing crops, hunting or gathering. The arrival of Europeans – explorers, whalers, missionaries and, …