Raetihi is preparing to host the 2023 Ruapehu Wild Food Challenge.
The Ruapehu Wild Food Challenge is returning to the Raetihi Cosmopolitan Club, and the call has gone out for locals to dust off their hunting, foraging, and culinary talents.
Organising committee member Deb Clunie said she was looking forward to seeing plenty of exciting entries from past participants as well as first-timers this year.
“The ingredients can be hunted, foraged, fished, or bartered for,” she said.
“The dishes need to be tasty, well-presented and they must come with a story. The story can be long or short, but it needs to be interesting.”
The event was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions in 2022, but the committee managed to pull off a fantastic event in 2021 and there were some impressive entries, Clunie said.
“One that really impressed me was from junior competitor Harmony Edmonds.
“She baked a trio of pies served in enamel pie dishes and presented them in an old-fashioned suitcase. They looked and tasted amazing.”
The 2021 challenge also included an entry from the youngest-ever competitor Aorere Shanks, three, who made rhubarb, wild raspberry, and kawakawa ice pops.
Past winner, judge and mother of two past junior winners, Charlotte Von Pein, said she highly recommended taking on the culinary adventure challenge.
She is not participating this year, and her daughters Jorja and Ella are now away at boarding school.
“Unfortunately, I’m busy with other things this year, which is a pity, because I do have an idea I’d like to try.
“I seriously urge anyone who hasn’t entered before to give it a go, because it is so much fun, especially when the whole family participates.”
Von Pien won the major prize in 2016 with her nose-to-tail peacock presentation, where she used every part of the bird except the beak.
Peacocks are pests in the Ruapehu region, and Von Pein said she wanted to demonstrate how versatile and tasty pest species can be.
Wild Food Challenge founder Bill Manson launched the first Wild Food Challenge in Eastbourne, Wellington in 2008 and took it around the country and to the world.
With his wife and daughter, he has spent half of every year based in the United States, returning to Aotearoa for the summer Wild Food Challenges.
“Covid really knocked the stuffing out of things here and overseas,” he said.
“I’ve just returned from the States where we’ve been working to reinvigorate things. We held a place-maker event at Martha’s Vineyard during the autumn there, and it was encouraging to see the turnout we had.”
Manson said although Ruapehu and Whakatāne events were cancelled in 2022, he was really impressed with how the local organisers had kept the enthusiasm going and was looking forward to being at the Ruapehu challenge on March 4.
“Ruapehu has been fantastic, and I’m hoping they will inspire other regions to bring their events back as well.
“When we held the first one there, I expected there would be a lot of deer and wild pork entries. We got those of course, and they were great, but the variety of entries just blew me away. There are a lot of very creative and inventive people in the region.”
Manson said he is optimistic that Wild Food Challenges will come back stronger than ever after Covid.
“From what I’ve heard, people became very inventive with their food preparation during lockdowns, so I’m expecting to see some amazing entries this year.”
Clunie said wild food entries can be hot, cold, liquid, frozen, raw, marinated, smoked, seared or preserved, as long as there are ingredients that meet the criteria.
“The Wild Food Challenge will be a fantastic event with demonstrations, tastings, and the opportunity to learn new ways with local wild food.”
Ruapehu Wild Food Challenge: Saturday, March 4 from 9.30am at Raetihi Cosmopolitan Club, 32 Seddon St.
See the Ruapehu Local Wild Food Challenge Facebook page for entry details.