First Catch Your Weka : The Story of New Zealand Cooking

Analyzing more than 150 years of recipes and cookbooks, this study chronicles the culinary history of New Zealand, looking at curious dishes such as boiled calf's head and stewed liver with macaroni, to the more traditional favorites such as homemade jams and chutneys. It explores what makes New Zealand cooking distinctive, and examines how the culture has changed, from the prevalence of whitebait and mussels in the 1920s, to the arrival of Asian influences in the 1950s, and finally to the modern emphasis on fresh ingredients and fusion cooking.--Provided by the publisher First Catch Your Weka Illuminates The Elements That Make New Zealand Cooking Distinctive And How Our Cuisine And Culture Have Changed (the Development Of A Nationalist Cuisine Of Kumara, Whitebait, And Mussels In The 1920s, The Arrival Of Asian Influences In The 1950s, The Television Cooks Of The 1970s). Throughout This History, Veart Finds A People Who, Frequently First Liked To Catch Their Weka - Building A Meal Out Of Oysters Taken From The Rocks, Vegetables From The Garden, And A Lamb From The Neighbouring Farm. By Telling The History Of What We Ate, Tells Us A Great Deal About Who We Have Been. Cookbooks Brought From Home: The Early Nineteenth Century -- Our Daily Bread -- The Cookbooks Of Empire: The Later Nineteenth Century -- Preserving The Quarter-acre Harvest -- Cooking Ourselves: 1900-20 -- Sweet Teeth -- The Electrified Cult Of Domesticity: The 1920s -- Handy Hints For The Household Manager -- Hard Times Meet Hollywood And Health Food: The 1930s -- The Cookbook Goes To War: The 1940s -- Jam And Jerusalem -- Beaming Housewives And The Meals Men Prefer: The Post-war World -- History In The Baking -- Flash, Foreign And The Arrival Of The Tv Cook: The 1960s -- Festival Food -- Test Kitchens And Gin-soaked Salads: The 1970s -- From Foodies To Farmer's Markets: The Last 30 Years. David Veart. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 319-322) And Indexes. First catch your Weka', the explorer Charles Heaphy advised in 1842, then stuff it with sage and onion and roast it on a stick. In that simple way began a great tradition of New Zealand cooking, from Heaphy to the Edmonds Cookery Book, Alison Holst, Hudson and Halls, and the meal on your plate today. In First Catch Your Weka, David Veart tells the story of what New Zealanders cooked through the recipes we used. Analysing the crusty deposits and grubby thumb prints on a century and a half of cook books, Veart chronicles the extraordinary foods that we have loved: from boiled calf's head to the Bill Rowling cake, Irish famine soup to tinned kidneys with mushrooms. First Catch your Weka illuminates the basic elements that make New Zealand cooking distinctive and reveals how our cuisine and our culture have changed. Throughout that history, Veart finds a people who frequently first liked to catch their weka - building a meal out of oysters taken from the rocks, vegetables from the garden and a lamb from the neighbouring farm. By telling the history of what we ate, First Catch your Weka tells us a great deal about who we have been. Content: Contents include: Cookbooks Brought from Home -- Chapter 2. Food of the First Necessity, Our Daily Bread -- Chapter 3. The Cookbooks of Empire, The Later 19th Century -- Chapter 4. Bottling -- Chapter 5. Cooking for Ourselves, 1900-1920 -- Chapter 6. Sweet Teeth -- Chapter 7. The Electrified Cult of Domesticity, The 1920s -- Chapter 8. Handy Hints for the Household Manager -- Chapter 9. Hard Times Meet Hollywood and Health food, The 1930s -- Chapter 10. The Cookbook goes to War, 1939-45 -- Chapter 11. Dining with the Women's Institute -- Chapter 12. Beaming Housewives and the Meals Men Prefer, The 1940s and 1950s -- Chapter 13. History in the Baking: Commemorative Cookery -- Chapter 14. Flash and Foreign and The Arrival of the TV Cook, The 1960s -- Chapter 15. Festival Food -- Chapter 16. Test Kitchens and Gin Soaked Salads, The 1970s.