Fresh, diverse and delicious, kiwis love their food – quintessential dishes include everything from roast lamb to green-lipped mussels and pavlova.

New Zealand is an island nation with its waters containing a large variety of fish and seafood. The consumption of fish has traditionally been low as meat has been the main preference for meals. Having said this, fish and seafood has always been significant in the Maori diet and you will notice that the names of many of them are still used today in Maori. A typical cooked breakfast has scrambled egg, bacon, cooked tomatoes, mushrooms, hash browns and baked beans. It's very easy to want to skip lunch after such a big breakfast.

Dinner is the main meal of the day and is eaten around 6pm. It normally contains meat and cooked vegetables, especially potato. The favourite desert in New Zealand is the PAVLOVA. It is a type of merengue covered in whipped cream then topped with fresh fruit such as kiwifruit (the most common) or strawberries. Why does it have a Russian name? In honou of a Russian ballet dancer that visited New Zealand in 1926.

Succulent and tender, roast lamb is a kiwi favourite. New Zealand lamb is held in high esteem throughout the world and is one of the country’s top export meats. Best enjoyed flavoured with rosemary and plenty of seasonal veggies, roast lamb is a meal that is sure to impress. You'll find it on the menu of our best restaurants nationwide.

The hangi was the most widely used method of cooking by Maori for over 2000 years. Now saved mainly for special occasions, traditional foods cooked in a hangi include chicken or seafood as well as various vegetables. A Hangi is a traditional Maori style of cooking.It is a process where steam is used as a medium of cooking the food while it is beneath the ground. Interestingly, this style of cooking can be found all around the Pacific (including Chile where it is called Curanto )

The dessert - meringue with fruit and cream - was named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who visited both countries in the 1920s. Australians and New Zealanders agree on that, but not on who invented it. It is a meringue dessert with a crisp crust and soft, light inside.