11 May 2011

A CHALLENGE TO CAFES AND RESTAURANTS

I have returned from three days of driving around the Coromandel and judging their annual Café Crawl. It’s a jolly affair, three nights, three restaurants in each town in a sort of progressive dinner, and a theme of ‘pioneer spirit.’ Suffice to say my lips are completely sealed about which town won; Thames, Tairua or Coromandel Town.

What truly impressed me however was the extensive use of local produce in every establishment I ate in. Chefs and restaurant owners put their heads together to construct dishes that truly reflected the Coromandel terroir, making use of everything that’s grown and produced on the peninsula. The region is known for misty bush clad hills, sandy beaches and narrow winding roads that cling to the cliffs or the shoreline.

Coromandel includes the peninsula from Whangamata north to Cape Colville and the Hauraki Plains. So in food terms that means abundant seafood and aquaculture, dairy produce, honey, nuts, plenty of meat and fruit and vegetables from fertile farms and gardens. Almost everything a kitchen needs. We ate very, very well. (See other posts on my blog, and also in a forthcoming Listener food column I am writing.)

It has occurred to me that this incredible use of everything local that’s edible was mainly due to the spotlight this challenge threw on the region. I hear we are getting about 85,000 international visitors for the forthcoming Rugby World Cup. Not only will these visitors watch rugby, drink our beer and try bungy jumping, but they will have to eat. Wouldn’t it be amazing if everywhere they ate around the country the fare they were served truly reflected the local produce?

That would mean that if they went to any restaurant in Marlborough they would see mussels, salmon and sauvignon blanc listed on the menu. While in Taranaki they’d enjoy fabulous local cheese, and lamb culled from those salty paddocks that face the stiff westerly breezes from the Tasman Sea every day. In Northland they’d feast on locally caught snapper and fruits from the citrus orchards. And so on……

Sometimes I think the cafés around the country have one central kitchen, making big paninis stuffed with ham and cheese, meat pies and humungous scones, muffins and carrot cakes. How can we get them to wake up to the artisan producers in their districts, to the fresh farm produce that some farmers would be only too happy to deliver and to realise that food they serve should be an expression of everything local.

Pictured above is Ruth Pettitt at Colenso Gardens in Whenuakite near Hot Water Beach. Ruth is exemplary in her approach to local food. I missed her Feijoa Friday last week but she showed me a complete menu of local feijoa treats she would be preparing. She uses local produce for all her cooking and maintains an extensive garden for her stunning café. We need to clone Ruth and send her to every café around New Zealand NOW!