“I always say you can pick what you want in life and sometimes something picks you. For me, hāngī has picked me [and] that’s been my main goal is to teach people, promote it and make it normal again.”
Groups can book in to experience the hāngī process from preparing kai to heating rocks over mānuka, learning the rich history of the whenua and the sweet smell of the Māori earth oven.
The pit can cook up to 400 hāngī at once which Spraggon says is fit for community events and fundraisers.
“Basically, we’re giving people the experience of [a] true hāngī.”
The new facility allows those living in the city to make a traditional hāngī in a safe environment.
“This is a registered council environment [which complies with] food safety standards as well. [People] will still be under my staff, so that the food safety and everything is done properly.”
Rewi Spraggon preparing produce for a hāngī. Photo / Faanati Mamea
Food is said to be the gateway to many cultures.
“For me it is soul food - especially the hāngī - and it brings everyone together. The whole connection [and] intertwining of the whānau is in the process of cooking hāngī.”
Spraggon has taken his culinary talents to the world stage and fused many kai with traditional hāngī.
“I’ve cooked everything from sea lion, buffalo [and] crocodile in the [hāngī] pits.”
However, even the hāngī master himself has limits with the famous kai - a meal he cooks almost daily.
Exploring other cultures and flavours in traditional hāngī
Spraggon jokingly admits, “I don’t eat the hāngī because I’m over it.
“[But] you can’t beat mutton bird in the hāngī it’s just so delicious. [If I] cook mutton bird I’ll always eat [it].”
Chef Rewi Spraggon is known for cooking hāngī.
Spraggon hopes to explore other cultures and flavours within this hāngī pit and encourages all ethnic groups to fuse their traditional kai here.
“It’s not just about the normal hāngī styles - we’re crossing cultures and using this methodology to actually cook some of the best Greek dishes, some of the best Italian dishes in the hāngī.”
Spraggon says his company Hāngi Master is expanding its horizons to the South Island, setting up a hāngī pit in Queenstown.
The hāngī pit in Māngere is open for members of the public to book via the www.maunga.nz website.
Riria Dalton-Reedy is one of 12 cadets in the Te Rito journalism programme, which has a focus on training more culturally diverse reporters to ensure newsrooms reflect Aotearoa’s multicultural society. Riria is proud of her Māori roots and has a special interest in telling Māori stories.
