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Gordon Ramsay Hunts for Native Foods of New Zealand | Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted


4m read
·Nov 11, 2024

Monique: Finally! Good morning! Good to see you! How are you?

Interviewer: Good! I'm great! What an amazing place! Welcome to New Zealand.

Monique: Fizo is one of New Zealand's top chefs, trained in Michigan-style restaurants, but passionate about her Maori heritage. She's on a one-woman mission to blend the food of her ancestors with the world of fine dining.

Interviewer: Now I've never ever ventured into that Maori cuisine, so what do I need to understand?

Monique: There's four main ecosystems. There's the oceans and the rivers, that’s Tangaroa, god of the sea. And then there’s the mountains and the forest, Papatuanuku, Earth Mother.

Interviewer: What? Papatuanuku?

Monique: Okay, that’s the one. It’s a complex cuisine. There’s a lot of customs involved. It’s not just about, you know, growing food and just making it. There’s a lot of different traditions that are interwoven in all of the food.

The Maori first arrived in New Zealand on pioneering voyages from Polynesia in the 13th century. Although they brought some crops with them, much of their diet relied on hunting and gathering from the forest and ocean. A tradition which chefs like Monique are keeping alive through their cooking.

Interviewer: Now foraging, is it big on the menu here?

Monique: It is big on the menu here! A lot of the time, it’s the only way to get your hands on these ingredients.

Interviewer: Wow! And as you can see I’ve got two machetes. One of which is for you! That’s my machete!

Monique: That’s your machete. After all the shifts at my restaurant, we all own a machete.

Interviewer: I know, but you don’t walk home at night with this thing, dude!

Monique: No, we tuck it in our backpacks.

Interviewer: You’re talking with your backpack? People said he’s lethal!

Monique: I’m definitely not going to argue with her, especially when she’s on the hunt for wild food.

Interviewer: So this is not like walking down a supermarket aisle?

Monique: No, this is one of the hard work we do to get the food we need to eat.

Interviewer: They’re everywhere, Monique.

Monique: Really? Yeah, let’s go!

Monique: But these vines are more than just a jungle gym. At their tip is a secret Maori delicacy.

Monique: So these are the young shoots that come off the vines, and they’re super tender.

Interviewer: Wow, you can eat that?

Monique: You can eat that. They’re hard to find. It’s like bush asparagus! Give it a try, they're really good!

Interviewer: But yeah, I like asparagus.

Monique: So soft and delicate!

Interviewer: Yeah, delicious!

Monique: All I can see in this tangled forest are potential personal injury claims.

Interviewer: Oh, here’s a good one!

Monique: But for machete, it’s like an all-you-can-eat buffet!

Interviewer: What’s that?

Monique: Hot apito.

Interviewer: Hot apito?

Monique: Yeah, it’s a native bush pepper tree.

Interviewer: Wow, it’s super spicy, super peppery! Have a munch on that.

Interviewer: Wow, that one’s spicy!

Monique: That is spicy! That’s incredible!

Interviewer: From that quite numb now, my tongue!

Monique: Yeah, from hot and it’s gonna stay that way for a while!

Interviewer: There’s now full-scale forest fire in my mouth!

Monique: But I’m not done yet! It’s amazing! From the beach, it doesn’t look that steep!

Interviewer: She’s got another surprise for me high up in the forest canopy.

Monique: That is deep in there!

Interviewer: Monique, I know it’s a good workout, isn’t it?

Monique: Next challenge!

Monique: This is a fuchsia tree. The best thing about this tree? The berries! They’re usually way up high, so the best ones? They’re bright purple and they’re super sweet!

Interviewer: Yeah, but they’re just a bit of a pain to get!

Monique: So just shake the tree and they’ll drop down!

Interviewer: No, you’re gonna have to go up!

Monique: Seriously?

Interviewer: Yeah! You sure they'll take my weight?

Monique: The branches?

Interviewer: We’ll soon find out!

Monique: I’ll wait here.

Interviewer: That’s very kind of you!

[Music]

Monique: Honestly, you said come foraging, right?

Interviewer: Yeah, I didn’t say it would all be on the ground!

Monique: It’s a little bit further now!

Interviewer: Oh, do you hear that?

Monique: I heard that!

Interviewer: Go like Tarzan up there!

Monique: Can you see them?

Interviewer: I can see them right in front of you!

Monique: Right, let’s see how it’s windy!

[Music]

Monique: So the bright purple ones, right?

Interviewer: Bright purple, those are the ones we’re after!

Monique: If you toss them down, they look like tiny dates!

Interviewer: Wow, how good are those?

Monique: It’s almost like a treetop dessert!

Monique: I just think that they’re one of the best ingredients that we have in this country!

Interviewer: They’re bloody tasty!

Monique: Fuchsia berries, pretty hairy skinning that tree, especially the wind!

Monique: But another hidden gem and what a delicious little berry!

Monique: There’s no seeds inside, so that’s nice thing!

Interviewer: So it’s just bursting with flavour!

Monique: The pain in the ass was there at the top of the tree, not the bottom!

Interviewer: Want to see more from my uncharted adventures? Please click here to watch more clips!

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