You can dive, walk, climb, hunt, forage or barter to get it and smoke, marinate, bake, pickle or brew to cook it. As long as you can eat it, it's eligible for the Local Wild Food Challenge in Raetihi on February 7.
The Local Wild Food Challenge is run ineight venues in five countries, started by New Zealander Bill Manson.
Raetihi is the latest place to be a venue for the challenge where cooks can create any dish, as long as it has one wild element to it. Wild can mean anything from shot on the tops to picked from the garden.
A panel of judges select the best, with points for effort and local ingredients as well as taste. Most of the preparation of dishes can be done in advance.
The challenge has been entered by home cooks, chefs, fishermen, caterers, hunters and gardeners. Children are welcome to enter and, as the contests have become more popular, a children's section with its own judges is usually part of the contest, Mr Manson says.
Dishes can be "hot, cold, frozen, raw, marinated, seared or preserved".
He said: "It can be a dessert or a drink; it doesn't have to be a slab of venison."
The challenge attracts professionals and amateurs, and at the moment the amateurs are nudging out the professionals in the challenges around the world. In New Zealand, the challenges are held in Eastbourne, Glenorchy and North Canterbury.
The challenge in Raetihi will be held at the Heartland Motor Lodge in Seddon St and will start at 2pm. There are tasting plates for spectators, plus pop-up food stalls and a bar. Entry is free.
A previous runner-up in the Eastbourne event was Amy Cranston with her Wanganui River Goat Curry, featuring a goat she had shot and butchered, with homemade roti, potatoes and herbs from her garden. The winner that year was Morsels of Moki: a moki liver and kahawai roe pate infused with saffron, local lemons and wild fennel, accompanied by manuka-smoked moki belly and shashimi of moki.
