Peter Gordon dishes up kitchen teamwork

TOP CHEF: Peter Gordon at Te Ao Marama hall as part of TV3 series Native Kitchen. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

For anyone who's ever seen MasterChef, TV cooking programmes are all about bitter rivalries and the sweet taste of victory.

But for his new show, filmed in Rotorua, internationally-recognised Kiwi chef Peter Gordon wanted to do things a little differently.

TV3'sNative Kitchen follows a group of trainee Maori chefs being mentored in Mr Gordon's signature fusion style, cooking with ingredients from around the world.

And speaking to the Rotorua Daily Post from his office in London, the chef said the show's focus was on teamwork, not competition.

"What we wanted to get across is that you can think about the world as existing for yourself - but you can achieve a lot more as a team," he said.

"We live in a really selfish society, and I didn't want to make a TV show where that was the over-riding theme."

For him, one of the most special parts of filming had been to see how the aspiring chefs developed over the two weeks.

"Everyone comes in at different talent levels, and then at the end they're all cooking this big meal for 200 people. It's a bit like zero to hero," he said.

But there was also tragedy when a participant's mother passed away during filming.

While the trainees on Native Kitchen refined their culinary skills, the chef aimed to "unlock my inner Maori" by taking part in a series of cultural challenges.

These included learning a haka, cooking in the hot pools, and paddling a waka.

The decision to film in Rotorua had been an easy one: it had to be "somewhere stunning," and a place that could showcase Maori culture.

Mr Gordon said the local people had been "really helpful and friendly," and spoke highly of Whakaue St's Lime Caffeteria.

The only gripe was the weather. Filming was in June, and the chef was surprised by how cold winter was in the geyser city.

Born in Wanganui, Mr Gordon has been living London for the last 25 years.

As well as restaurants there, he has also opened ventures in Istanbul, New York, and back home in New Zealand.

In his previous TV outing, Fusion Feasts, he travelled around New Zealand to cook for different iwi, giving an international twist to traditional Maori food.

Native Kitchen will be on TV3 at 4.30pm today.