Sweet Potato Bread: New Zealand's (Greatest) Gift to Mankind
Colin Mairs is a New Zealand based Scot offering tours at www.mondumo.com
What is New Zealand food?
New Zealand is perhaps not the first nation that you think of when you think of great bread, or even of culinary delights in general. Visitors often ask me, “What is New Zealand food?” A lot of what is today considered New Zealand food finds influence from other cultures that have come here–most notably the British, who have had the strongest impact. That’s why things like fish and chips, meat pies, and lamb roast are all today considered to be quintessentially Kiwi.
‘Native’ New Zealand food
New Zealand has only one native land mammal (the bat!), so all meat-producing animals that we eat today like lamb, beef, pork and venison were brought here by Europeans from the late 1700s onwards. The Māori people, whose ancestors arrived in New Zealand around 700 to 1000 years ago, hunted the giant moa and other native birds. They alsorelied heavily upon fish and other seafood, eaten alongside wild herbs, root vegetables and berries. Given that the native birds are now protected, when we look in New Zealand’s “native larder” of foods available to eat today, we find mostly seafood: some of the best oysters you’ll find anywhere in the world, dozens different kinds of fish that are found in New Zealand waters, the biggest mussels you’ll ever set eyes upon, and freshwater eels (confusingly, known in Māori as tuna).
Sweet potato bread
Prior to European arrival in New Zealand, Māori were skilled at cultivating root vegetables. The main pre-European food (still commonly grown and eaten by Kiwis today) was sweet potato–known locally as kumara. It’s also used to make a sourdough bread called rēwena.
Just like any sourdough bread, you use a pre-ferment starter or a “bug” for making rēwena. Firstly, peel, boil and mash the potatoes or sweet potatoes. Some recipes use kumara (sweet potatoes), others use taewa (Māori potatoes). Then you add flour and sugar and leave the mixture to ferment for one or several days, depending on the ambient temperature and humidity. Like other sourdough breads, the bug can be kept and used indefinitely, just as long as you feed the yeast regularly to keep it alive. Rēwena bread has a distinctive sweet and sour taste which comes from the potato starter and fermentation process. The bug is then added to the mashed potato, flour and sugar mixture with a little water and kneaded.
Aside from being used just for the mealtime, rēwena bread also has a cultural significance for Māori people in being used to break the tapu (taboo) associated with visiting a cemetery. The bread is crumbled over hands in a fashion like washing hands with water.
Kumara Bread
Image | Nadia Lim
Make your own
If you want to give it a go, here’s a fine recipe for making kumara rēwena bread.
Buy your own
On the other hand, if you’re too lazy to bake it yourself but not too lazy to come to New Zealand, probably your best (and perhaps only) opportunity to try it will be at a hangi dinner, where the delectable bread is usually served at the start of the meal along with the soup and starters.
The hangi is the traditional earth oven – it’s also the name for the occasion of getting together to enjoy the food that has been cooked in the earth oven. It’s a bit like saying “we are going to a barbecue” – the barbecue is the apparatus used for cooking and the event is a barbecue. We go to a hangi to eat food cooked underground in the hangi.
Several places in Rotorua—the tourist mecca of the North Island known for its geothermal activity and abundant Māori culture—offer hangi evenings for visitors. My favourites are at Tamaki Māori Village and at Te Puia.
The reveal moment of the hangi dinner which has been cooked underground - these days in stainless steel.
Image | Colin Mairs
Where to find great bread in Auckland
Generally in New Zealand, people buy sliced bread, but over the past decade or so, many Kiwis, through world travel and influx of other cultures, have become unashamed foodies. Specialty food offerings are ubiquitous in the big towns and cities, and bread is certainly not left out. In my hometown of Auckland, here’s where you can find some excellent artisan bread (not exclusively rēwena):
Daily Bread
Using a 600-year-old sourdough starter for their breads, the same owners have a fabulous restaurant in Ponsonby called Orphans Kitchen – somewhere I often recommend as a good spot to try contemporary Kiwi cuisine. Their strong ethics emphasize using locally grown flour, natural yeast, organic coffee, and minimal waste.
The Midnight Baker
Catering exceptionally to people with a diet that is free of gluten, grains, sugar, dairy or nuts, this vegan café serves seed loaves topped with delicious sweet and savoury delights.
Olaf's
Olaf's provides breads to many of Auckland's best restaurants. Inspiration comes by way of the breads of France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and more.
Little and Friday
Sometimes they have fresh bread for sale, sometimes they don’t. But I couldn’t leave out my favourite Auckland baker. In a rather tucked away street of Auckland’s North Shore, Little and Friday’s has a laid back feel. Stocked with baked goods that are fresh, free-range and organic, it’s the kind of café you want to sit in for hours.. The doughnuts are dangerously addictive. nd you need to get in early at lunchtime if you want to get a hearty sandwich made with shop-baked bread. They sell out quickly—a telltale sign that Little and Friday knows what they’re doing!
So much yumminess at Little and Friday
Image | Colin Mairs
