Putting the finishing touches on a plate of pancakes at Windermere Berry Farms, Whanganui. Photo / Lewis Gardner
Putting the finishing touches on a plate of pancakes at Windermere Berry Farms, Whanganui. Photo / Lewis Gardner
Shrove Tuesday... Pancake Day... Fat Tuesday. Whichever title you like to use to condone your gluttonous indulgence, this year it's observed 1 March. Get ready for a Tuesday that's actually worth looking forward to.
Celebrated 47 days prior to Easter Sunday, Shrove Tuesday is traditionally a Christian feast day thatprecedes Lent - or 40 days of fasting. In some cultures, it's followed by a vivacious Mardis Gras festival. Typically, before attempting to purge the body of greedy weakness, partakers indulge in one final bout of temptation.
If you're after some tasty Tuesday inspiration, here's a selection of NZ's most mouth-watering regions and cities.
New Zealand's best food and walking tours
It's always a challenge to navigate yourself around a city for the first time. Especially if you're prone to FOMO and don't want to miss any of the best bits. That's where walking tours can be really helpful, and what could be better than one that takes you around all the best foodie spots. Get some exercise, taste some local treats, orientate yourself in a location and enjoy.
Join Elle at The Big Foody for food and beer-based strolls around central Auckland. Photo / Auckland Unlimited
Seven great food stops on a South Island roadie
There are four main ingredients for an epic road trip: a driver, a navigator, music, and food. We're not about to play favourites but the food is definitely the most important. You can always find drivers, getting lost is part of the adventure, and when Spotify fails, there's Road Trip Karaoke. But food? That's what makes it the sweetest road trip ever.
Late last year, Auckland's 16 favourite dishes were revealed as part of the city's annual Iconic Eats awards. 2021's list of the 100 best-loved bites were compiled from nominations from over one thousand food-loving Aucklanders. Don't be fooled by the mention of 2021, these flavours are as popular as ever.
Marinated salmon on the menu at Mekong Baby in Ponsonby, Auckland. Photo / Babiche Martens
Nine must-eat treats in Wairarapa
Wellingtonians with an appetite for local food culture are lucky to have the Wairarapa region on their doorstep. The Remutaka Pass is apparently seen as a barrier – yes, it's a little windy, but this Aucklander would take it over a bumper-to-bumper motorway any day. An hour after leaving downtown Wellington, Travel writer Anna King Shahab pulls up in Featherston for her first of many feasts.
Schoc Chocolates in Greytown, Wairarapa. Photo / Jet Productions
Hungry mouths to feed? Best family food in Aotearoa
Any food lover who has travelled with fussy kids will know it's a special kind of agony being in a city with magnificent culinary options but dining somewhere deeply average because your little angels needed chicken nuggets. Don't despair, we've hunted out a few places around the country where everyone's a winner. Parents get fab food, kids get the chance to try something new - and there are "less-adventurous" options as a backup if everything goes to the wall.
There's no shortage of places to sink your claws into a crayfish along the Kaikōura coast.
From bins, BBQs and BYO fishmongers - the craggy drive along State Highway 1 is awash with places to get a taste of the regional delicacy. Local seafood vendors never tire of pointing out that kōura (crayfish or 'rock lobster') is in their name.
A Kaikoura Whitebait fritter. Photo / Ann-Marie Cahill
A weekend of indulgence in Wellington
In what might be becoming an all too familiar story, August's Wellington On a Plate festival was derailed slightly by Covid lockdowns, but the capital is a year-round top destination for foodies. Here's what you should add to your menu for your next Wellington getaway.
