Te Matatini: Hāngi Master Rewi Spraggon feeds the whānau to take out first prize

Forget the kapa haka - the first prize of the Te Matatini hāngi competition goes to Māori master chef Rewi Spraggon, whose feast for the hākari was as sharp and good-looking as the Ngāti Whātu Ōrākei Matua at the powhiri.

Like the men of Ngāti Whātua TikTok whose dapper dress styles went ballistic on social media, so too has the hākari - the feast that takes place after a ceremony - and kai preparation has been a big winner, with Spraggon boasting 78,000 views in a day.

Spraggon's baskets of kai to feed the masses. Photo / Supplied

Tasked with providing a memorable kai experience for the visitors and dignitaries after the Te Matatini powhiri at Bastion Point, it was the hāngi master’s job to feed around 7000.

“The hāngi for the Te Matatini powhiri would probably be the biggest hāngi in the district since the Kohimarama Conference held on the 10th of July 1860, where many Rangatira chiefs from around the country gathered,” Spraggon told the Herald.

The crayfish were smoked on the hangi trays to add flavour. Photo / Supplied

“They wanted around 7000 people fed, so a hākari stage was set up with the many tribal delicacies brought from the around the country.”

Spraggon said the menu had to showcase all that is great about New Zealand and Māori-style cooking.

“I asked my cousin Ngahuia Hawke to help and we set about to showcase hāngi and seafood.”

The hāngi itself required three tonnes of food, which were cooked in 132 baskets, spread across three large hāngi pits.

Spraggon said while Te Matatini brings out the best in kapa haka, for hāngi experts feeding the whānau - who will tell you if it is not to their standards - was a challenge of all his hāngi skills.

He sourced much of the kai from Māori providers.

“We smoked over 900 crayfish tails from a Māori company at Port Nicholson and smoked them over the top of the hāngi. That added a loving manuka flavour to the kōura before it was steamed in garlic butter,” Spraggon said.

Smoking hot hāngi for the hākari. Photo / Supplied

“We also cooked 400 Titi mutton birds, in the hāngi a few days before the event. Hawke and her team had been preparing the kai for the hākari 10 days prior with Kina from the Waitematā harbour and Paua from Rekohu the Chatham Islands. Ika Mata - raw fish was supplied by Takitimu fisheries and Pacific oysters and mussel from Moana another Māori-owned company.”

The Hāngi Master team also fed thousands of people during the four-day event at Eden Park with hāngi meals as well as Spraggon’s hāngi pork steam buns and hāngi pies.

“My dream is to do more then 10,000 hāngi like our old people did and it’s only events such as this that give you that opportunity,” Spraggon said.