Throwing food as a protest has a long and noble tradition, says Evan Smith, Flinders University Last weekend, anti-trans campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, better known as Posie Parker, arrived to speak at a rally in Auckland, which was surrounded by...
Opinion
Every week The Feed interviews the movers, the shakers and the makers in the New Zealand food industry. Check out the interviews on The Feed Weekly podcast or in a Q&A format below. And if you’ve got a story to tell or an opinion to share, drop us a line at editor@thefeed.co.nz
Here’s what hospo could look like in 2050 if the world is a hellscape of climate shithousery – report
Imagining the future used to be the job of miserable sci-fi writers. Think killer robots, toxic fungi, alien probes. But stand aside, Asimov. Thanks to new government rules, all New Zealand industries must now engage in some crystal-ball gazing to imagine how they...
Culinary hubris: tripe sausage, fish porridge and sewer crab
In the second installment of a regular series featuring our witers' worst meals, David Wrigley looks back on some questionable decisions made in the face of sensible advice. I have a terrible memory. I can’t remember faces and I can’t remember names. My kids don’t...
Thank Christ for hot cross buns. Or even better: don’t
Easter is looming. When is it going to get here exacty? I don't know. Who can say? The pope? The Easter Bunny? Probably. Easter is the only New Zealand public holiday dictated by the lunar calendar. It's a celebration of promiscuous rabbits and chocolate eggs, of...
Worst meal I’ve ever had: the night we got engaged
News that high school children were served raw chicken for lunch took me right back to 1990 and the worst meal of my life. Earlier this month students at Kaitaia High School had to chuck out their sandwiches and then chuck out their guts in a makeshift triage. They’d...
‘Pantry porn’ on TikTok and Instagram makes obsessively organised kitchens a new status symbol
How did the perfectly organized pantry become so ubiquitous in the digital age? And what does it say about the expectations of being a good homemaker? Jenna Drenten has been thinking. Neatly aligned glass spice jars tagged with printed white labels. Wicker baskets...
Go with your gut: the story behind Good Shit Soda’s global sensation
Change It Up: How do you find space in a crowded market for yet another non-alcoholic beverage? The team behind Good Shit Soda have cracked the formula, reports Ben Fahy “We want to cover the country with Good Shit and then look to the horizon,” says Becs...
Hawke’s Bay hospitality and tourism need the tourists back. But is the region ready?
Late last year Chief Executive of Hawke’s Bay Tourism, Hamish Saxton said that after another rollercoaster year for Hawke’s Bay’s visitor economy, things were on the up. “ Considering where we started in January 2022, the visitor economy in Food and Wine Country is...
The day Gabri-hell came to town. Yvonne Lorkin reflects on the devastation
It's already a month since Cyclone Gabrielle hit. A month! Hawke's Bay resident and wine writer Yvonne Lorkin recalls the day “Hi luv! Happy birthday!” It was just after 10pm on the night of Thursday Feb 16th when my phone rang. It was my mum. The line was...
Study shows hospitality industry needs to get its house in order to recover its workforce
For hospitality workers and workers who have left the industry over the past couple of years, the He Tangata survey released by AUT this week will contain few suprises. Business owners and industry lobby groups however, may find a few unpleasant truths that don't sit...
What comes after the rescue: recovery or reinvention?
Cyclone Gabrielle hit New Zealand's main fruit-growing region hard – now orchardists face critical climate choices. To recover or to reinvent, asks Anita Wreford, of Lincoln University Hawke’s Bay, one of New Zealand’s most productive regions and the hub of the...
We planted pine in response to Cyclone Bola – with devastating consequences. It is now time to invest in natives
The slash devastation in Tairāwhiti reflects poor decisions to clear native forest off steep, erodible hill country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which was also encouraged by the government of the day. It's time to change that approach, writes David...
The ag-tech revolution can help our climate response: let’s speed it up
Agriculture is facing a huge problem with climate change. It's also facing opportunities for growth and leadership. The ag-tech revolution is underway but it could be so much faster, says Rohan MacMahon, co-founder of Climate Venture Capital Fund As I write these...
Farmers markets help us to draw a line between ‘farmers’ and industrialists
National Farmers’ Market Week is coming up and, in the wake of cyclone Gabrielle and the ongoing cost of living crisis, it provides us with an opportunity to consider our food supply chains and where our priorities should lie when thinking about the use of our arable...
A focus on methane is distracting us from the real culprit of climate change: carbon
Climate scientist Kevin Trenberth warns that obsessing on cow burbs risks missing the real source of global heating: fossil fuels. New Zealand, where agriculture is one of the largest contributors to climate change, is proposing a levy on cow burps. The reason...
A Thousand Gods and the sauvignon blank generation
Change It Up: In the third of our of series about food innovators Kieran Clarkin meets Simon and Lauren Sharpe of Thousand Gods - lo-fi, small-scale, winemakers in the heart of mega-sauvignon blanc country. Change It Up is brought to you by Everybird Coffee. ...
Overcoming oliebollen: how to rise above the childhood trauma of deep-fried oily balls
Food That Changed My Mind: In the first of an occasional series we explore foods we misunderstood, misrepresented or mansplained away. Today Vincent revisits oliebollen. What is it: Literally translated as ‘oily balls’, Oliebollen are an egg-and-flour batter...
After the flood – four ways to think about the future of growing food
If the rain that deluged Auckland is the ‘new normal’, how are hard-hit growers meant to think about the future? Can they grow anything in the ‘normal’ way again? Vincent asks senior cropping scientist Brent Clothier what he's telling his clients about the future of...
The tyranny of the packed lunch
Schools are back after a long and wet summer and parents throughout the country are breathing a sigh of relief. Champagne corks are popped, prescription drugs are returned to the cabinet, and thoughts of going anywhere near the moribund local museum to look at 19th...
Who’s to blame for flood damaged food?
As the backwash recedes on Auckland's flood, the backlash begins. Pukekohe's growers are some of the most affected - so who's to blame when food goes to waste? It was heartbreaking this week to see piles of onions and potatoes, freshly harvested and ready to eat,...
The plight of Pukekohe
It’s not often in today’s consumer focused world that vegetables are delivered direct to your door or, in this case the footpath and road outside your home. While there is currently a shortage of onions due to uncertain weather conditions, this week residents around...