Government guide to hangi gets up Maori noses

By KELLY BLANCHARD in Rotorua
A Government-funded booklet on how to prepare and cook a hangi hygienically has Rotorua Maori comparing it to a "how to suck eggs" guide.

The booklet was launched in Auckland yesterday by Food Safety Minister Annette King.

The 24-page full-colour booklet is a step-by-step guide to buying, storing and preparing hangi food, the pit preparation, heating the hangi stones, serving the food and what to do with the leftovers. It is a joint venture between the Auckland Regional Public Health Services and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority.

It comes after revelations that New Zealand has the highest rate of food poisoning in the developed world, which costs the country about $55 million a year through days off work, medical treatment and related costs.

But Rotorua hangi tourist operators and marae cooks say the hangi booklet is a huge waste of time and money.

Mike Tamaki from Tamaki Tours said next the Government would be bringing out a booklet on "Five Easy Steps On How To Be A Maori".

"This sounds to me like a really good comedy line for a Billy T James show. What part of a hangi is wrong or unhealthy that they have to come up with a book on it?"

Although the booklet had been developed in consultation with Maori elders, Mr Tamaki doubted whether it would be used.

"I don't care what elder approved it. How many out there who have been in the practice of doing a hangi for years are now going to read a guide book on how to do it put out by the Government? They're telling us how to suck eggs."

Ike Mitchell, who is Ohinemutu's Whakaturia Dining Room chef, said the booklet was an "insult to Maoridom".

"It's bloody ridiculous. Maori have been doing it for hundreds of years, even before refrigeration, and no-one gets food poisoning. You show me a bastard who has died from eating hangi."

Mr Mitchell felt the Government was directing its resources in the wrong direction - he and his wife no longer dined in Rotorua because they felt restaurants' hygiene was not up to scratch.

New Zealand Food Safety Authority director Tim Knox said he was disappointed with Rotorua's attitude about the booklet. "It has been popular in Auckland and the Far North and it is disappointing to hear that Rotorua people do not see the value in it."