Wild food on NZ's wild west coast
09 Feb 2010
Hokitika Wildfoods Festival
13 March 2010
Worm sushi, bush bacon butties and deep fried shark will be on the menu at New Zealand’s iconic Hokitika Wildfoods Festival, held annually on the remote South Island west coast.
The 2010 festival on 13 March will mark the 21st birthday of the festival, which started in 1990.
A crowd of about 15,000 is expected to sample the wide range of "gourmet bush tucker",or indigenous New Zealand food, cooked in new and unexpected ways.
Gastronomic feast
The Hokitika Wildfoods Festival is a celebration of the weird and wonderful in the world of food - with many interesting snacks that are unique to New Zealand's West Coast region.
Popular food and drinks include local New Zealand whitebait fritters, West Coast gorse flower wine and local brewery Monteith's beer.
For the adventurous gourmet, there will be many exotic tastes to tickle the senses ranging from natural Viagra in the form of "mountain oysters" or young lamb testicles to wild pork and venison, pickled huhu grubs, snails, eel, worm sushi and mountain sheep tongue.
Huhu grubs, the larvae of a forest beetle endemic to New Zealand, are a traditional Maori delicacy. The grubs provided a high fat instant snack that was eaten fresh from their fallen bush log homes, and Maori had different names for the grub depending on its stage of life.
Past wild food highlights have also included possum pies, wasp larvae ice-cream, cucumber fish, sheep’s milk cheeses and wok fried clams.
Wildfoods Festival awards
Hokitika Wildfoods Festival was started by local woman Claire Bryant to coincide with the 125th anniversary of the town of Hokitika, in March, 1990.
As well as tasty New Zealand bush tucker, there is also entertainment in the form of music, dancing, mime and comedy throughout the day.
In 1996, the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival was awarded New Zealand's 'most unique event' title, and has twice been a winner in the New Zealand Tourism Awards.
And the festival recently made it onto a list of the world's top 300 'unmissable' festivals by US travel publisher Frommers.
The global recognition cements the 21-year-old festival's reputation for Kiwi excellence and innovativeness.
This year's event will be covered by international media including an Australian food channel. English baron Lord Francis Stafford will judge its 'new foods' section.
Background: Hokitika
Hokitika is well-known for being home to some of New Zealand's most beautiful pounamu (also known as greenstone or jade). Some of the world's best pounamu carvers live here.
It was originally a gold town, settled in the 1860's during the South Island gold rush, and an important port.
Hokitika, population 4500, sits between a river mouth and a rugged West Coast beach, in the South Island of New Zealand. The little town has breathtaking views of the Southern Alps as a backdrop.
Other attractions
Hokitika is the perfect starting point to explore the rest of the West Coast.
Apart from the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival in March every year, visitors can enjoy scenic flights over Aoraki Mt Cook, cruise the highway in a classic sports car or take a night time walk looking for kiwi.
Other famous West Coast must-sees include Pancake Rocks and Blowholes at Punakaiki, the seal colony at Cape Foulwind near Westport, walking the Heaphy Track at Kahurangi National Park, and Shantytown, a replica pioneering town just 15 minutes south of Greymouth.
More information:
Cyberspace boosts West Coast birding
Kahurangi National Park - Oparara walking track
NZ’s culinary culture
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