Forget cake, real hangi gets mouth watering

A line from an old song goes like this: "If I knew you were coming I would have baked a cake."

Well, I'm not a cake eater so my response to that would be: "Don't bother."

But if the kids from Featherston School had changed the words to: "If I knew you were coming I would have put down a hangi," I would be in like Flynn.

Reading this week that the kids had learned the art of putting down the hangi, with a little bit of help from parents, as part of a leadership programme was good news.

I love hangi food but, unfortunately, it is pretty hard to come by and I hope that is not a sign it is a dying art.

When I was a young lad hangi food was not exactly plentiful, but not a rare find either.

School gala days almost invariably included a hangi as did most public celebrations and very often marae gatherings.

I can proudly claim to have poached many a good feed from a hangi pit.

In its early days Kuranui College included a hangi at fundraising galas.

Big Maori men clad in a pair of shorts and a singlet jealously tended the underground feast.

They knew exactly how long the food should steam away, just how hot the oven below had to be and the result was meat to die for accompanied by a selection of vegetables that invariably included pumpkin, my favourite.

One of the greatest hangi meals I have ever eaten was in Auckland though, at the home of a neighbour.

Tom was not a Maori, he was either a Nuie Islander or from Nauru.

Time may have blurred that detail but the taste of his cooking is with me still.

His wife was a Ngati Porou but in keeping with tradition she was kept at arm's length when it came to preparing the hangi.

Tom didn't use stones to heat the hangi but - believe it or not - had a stack of cut-offs from railway lines.

How in God's name he ever managed to get the iron hot enough to sustain several hours of underground cookery I don't know but he did and the result was superb.

So, Featherston kids keep up the good work and next time you have a hangi invite me along, please.