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NZ's New Carnucopia of Fine Foods
By Michael Vaughan
Weekly National Post Columnist
(from Wine Access Magazine)

Before I even set foot in New Zealand, I knew something special was happening. It concerned what was being served for dinner aboard Air New Zealand Business Class service. In addition to the sparkling china and beautiful coloured-glass bowls, the specially created menu developed by New Zealand's leading chefs focused on locally grown ingredients with premium wines.

You may well be familiar with the reliable NZ standbys of lamb, orange roughy and the giant green-lipped mussels which excel in this land of plenty What most don't know is how the three million plus citizens of this thinly populated Garden of Eden have zipped forward, producing some of the most highly-prized foodstuffs in the world.

Gourmands know that France is the home of the Périgord black truffle (tuber melanosporum), which abounds in the limestone-rich, alkaline soil hills to just south of the Massif Central. Most are amazed to discover that in 1987 New Zealand's first truffière (pronounced true-fee-air) or truffle plantation was established by Dr. Ian Hall under climatic conditions that mimic those in the Mediterranean.

By July 1993, a handful of farmraised genuine Périgord truffles were harvested in New Zealand, the first in the Southern Hemisphere. They were unearthed by Tosca the truffle hound, who found about one and a half kg - the first weighing 250 grams and the largest an enormous 475 grams. Unfortunately, it has taken almost another decade for these initial efforts to prove their commercial viability Today, there are dozens of truffle farmers, with the yields fetching up to $3000 NZ per kilo:

Tony Adcock of the Harbourside Restaurant in Auckland
is also the chief culinary consultant for Air New Zealand

As if taking on France wasn't enough, local growers are taking Italy's premium extra virgin olive oil producers to task. Marlborough is New Zealand's leading olive-oil producing region and is situated at the northern end of the South Island. Best known is Ponder Estate, whose holdings comprise 10 hectares in the heart of Marlborough's famous wine-growing area.

They planted their first olive trees in 1989, and 1994 saw their first commercial pressing for oil. Like wine, olive oil varies dramatically from region to region, vintage to vintage and tree to tree. The Barnea, Manzanillo, Nabali Mahousan and Frantoio are some of the key varieties grown in New Zealand.

How do they stack up? Well that depends on which brands we are talking about. There may well be up to one hundred producers in New Zealand. I brought a small collection of favourites back to Canada for a comparative blind taste test with Jamie Kennedy, owner/chef of the JK ROM in Toronto. The stunning, extremely elegant, fresh, slightly grassy flavours of Blumenfeld extra virgin olive oil swept us off our collective feet. Look for Batch T004 that was first cold pressed in 2000.

It is befitting that the late Dr. Gidon Blumenfeld, father of New Zealand's olive industry, would win. In 1986 he was the first to import mother trees from the "world collection" in Cordoba, Spain, as well as the research centre of Israel. While production has increased significantly, it's still small, struggling to supply discerning buyers from around the globe.

Moo-ving on, I was stunned to discover what might well be the happiest cows in the world. They were munching themselves crazy on natural organic grasses planted by a path-breaking cattle farmer just south of Auckland, producing what may well be the finest beef money can buy Now, I was skeptical that any low-fat sirloin could be tasty or tender; after all, it's usually fat that gives the meat these characteristics.

Well, how wrong I was. Indeed, I almost fell off my chair when Cambrian owners Julia and Ewan Campbell plunked down not only the tastiest and most tender, but also the lowest-fat piece of beef I have had the pleasure to savour.

I brought samples back to Canada for comparative blind tastings with key Canadian chefs. Executive chef Jean-Pierre Chalet at Toronto's chi-chi Windsor Arms Hotel was amazed at Cambrian's terrific tenderness and flavours. The New Zealand sirloin beat out the other two contestants - Canadian Sterling and Bruss corn-fed US Prime.

The more I tasted, the more I discovered that there is a tremendous variety of fine new products awaiting - from avocado oil, locally grown saffron, some of the world's finest honey (an immense variety from Rata and Kamahi Manuka and Blue Borage), sublime cheddar cheeses, new varieties of chestnuts, and on and on.

From out of nowhere New Zealand has ascended to the culinary main stage.