He mea whakaora i ngā tikanga kai a te Māori, ka whāngai hoki i te 10,000 tāngata ki te kai.
Renowned chef Joe McLeod has led what is believed to be the biggest hāngī laid in almost 80 years, kicking off Waitangi Week celebrations and the reopening of the whare tūpuna at Te Tiriti o Waitangi Marae.
Orchestrating the massive hāngī feast was no easy feat. McLeod says this is the largest hāngī served since the return of the 28th Māori Battalion in 1946.
“Koinei tētahi o aku mahi i whai ake ai te hokinga mai o ngā hōia i Pōneke, i reira i whakatuwhera i tētahi hākari nunui mō te rōpū i hoki mai, te rōpū i haere ki te mihi atu ki a rātou mō te hokinga mai o Te Hokowhitu-a-Tu.
“Āe, tekau mano ngā tāngata i reira, koinā te last time i tunuhia he umu mō tēnā rahi mō te iwi Māori i tērā wā. Koinei te wā tuarua mō te umu hākari mō te tangata, tekau mano tangata mō te hākari,” says McLeod
Though McLeod has cooked for crowds of 5,000 before, preparing enough food for 10,000 will require more time and effort, utilizing five hāngī pits—one dedicated entirely to fish.
And the NZ Army was also there supporting the ringa wera from the hāu kainga. Spokesperson Adam Winnie of Ngāti Kahungunu said they are there to provide catering support and other errands for the entire week.
“Ko te mahi a Ngāti Tūmatauenga hei āwhina, hei tautoko. Our work as the NZ Army is to provide help and provide support. So we are just helping out where we can”, says Winnie.
Despite only having seven weeks to pull everything together, McLeod and his team at E Kai Māori, along with hundreds of volunteers, managed to prepare an incredible spread. The feast includes one-and-a-half tonnes each of lamb, beef, and pork, three tonnes of vegetables, and half a tonne of fish—all to be served in 860 rourou baskets and 20 waka ika baskets for the fish alone. Notably, no smoking or steaming cookers were used in this traditional preparation.
The hāngī was arranged meticulously, with pork placed in the pit first, followed by beef, lamb, and finally, vegetables on top. From harvesting the kai to weaving the rourou baskets and coordinating volunteers, the scale of the operation was immense. The effort came together with the help of hundreds of volunteers from across the motu.
Ngā Rākau Māori
There are 60 NZ native medicinal plants used as condiments within the hāngī, mātauranga māori he hopes he shares with as many people.
“I haere mātou ki te kato i te ngahere, inanahi nei. Koina i whati i aku waewae i aku matimati. Kua herea i te maemae engari mīharo te haere katoa. Koinā, anei ngā rākau mō te mīti, anei ngā rākau mō te poaka, anei ngā rākau mō te hipi, anei ngā rākau mō te otaota, he rerekē. Koinā te rahi o te nui i haere au ki te ngahere ki te tiki.
Serving ‘te iwi māori,’ McLeod is adding to his work of revitalising Māori culinary across the country, a more satisfying journey for him following a 50-year stint dishing up to the likes of the royal family.
NZ Māori chef Pio Terei praised the work of McLeod and the ringa wera.
“E tu ana au [ki] tera taha, ka rongo au i te haunga o te kai ne, na ka puta mai ooh tino pai. Na ka kite koutou, beautiful,” says Terei.
