Mumma's Kitchen creator Kirsten Holtz. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Mumma's Kitchen creator Kirsten Holtz. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The iconic company Edmonds has launched a te reo Māori cookbook based on the bestselling Edmonds My First Cookbook in an effort to normalise usage of the Māori language.
Northland-based food blogger Kirsten Holtz of Mumma’s Kitchen has seven recipes featured in the cookbook’s 90-plus recipes, which she said is an opportunity to “normalise all things Māori”.
The book - Taku Puka Tohutao Tuatahi - is the 11th that Kotahi Rau Pakapuka has translated to reo Māori, who have a goal of producing 100 in Aotearoa’s language.
“To be able to have something as iconic as the Edmonds brand [in te reo Māori].”
Holtz believes around 80 per cent of New Zealanders have something that’s Edmonds in their house, ranging from flour to “a cookbook that’s been dog-eared” to an “egg-splattered” book, she said.
Holtz vlogs from her home kitchen and has amassed a large online following of keen cooks who enjoy her home-style Kiwi recipes.
She was approached to feature in the Edmonds cookbook and spent around a month developing and perfecting recipes that were not only delicious but easy to follow.
Kirsten Holtz of blog Mummas Kitchen at the launch of Taku Puka Tohutao Tuatahi.
Simple steps were a key ingredient in providing an Edmonds recipe, and Holt said it was “tricky” trying to simplify recipes enough for tamariki to understand.
That mahi was a year and a half ago, and now the fruits of her labour are out for everyone to enjoy. Featured recipes include her Matariki star biscuit, steamed pudding, fried bread and raw fish.
Holtz said the book is “absolutely fantastic” for everyone. She said there’s an “excellent” bilingual glossary at the back that enables users to find words and check what they are.
The book is visually engaging, with images that additionally provide an easy-to-follow recipe.
Holtz is also a kindergarten teacher and said she’s going to be using the book as material to further promote the use of reo Māori. She said if she can bring her copy in to work and the tamariki learn two or three phrases or words, then “surely that’s success”.
She said the book not only normalises the use of te reo Māori but empowers Māori people to recognise that their language is powerful.
Brodie Stone is the education and general news reporter at the Advocate. Brodie recently graduated from Massey University and has a special interest in the environment and investigative reporting.
