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Ngā tohutohu tao kai me kōrero mō MatarikiMatariki recipes, discussions, and stories

Find inspiration for your own Matariki feasts with these recipes – and the kōrero behind them.

This is an ongoing project, and will be updated with new pages and recipes.

  • Tuna (eel) with blue eyes staring into the camera.

    Watch: Matariki Kōrero – Waitī

    Throughout the weeks leading up to Matariki, 2024, guest speakers give a series of talks about kai Māori (Māori food) practices connected to taonga (treasures) from our collection.

    This kōrero talk is about Waitī – the whetū (star) associated with fresh water.

  • A pigeon with a white front is sitting in a tree.

    Watch: Matariki Kōrero: Tipuārangi

    Throughout the weeks leading up to Matariki, 2024, guest speakers give a series of talks about kai Māori (Maori food) practices connected to taonga (treasures) from our collection.

    This kōrero is about Tipuārangi – the whetū (star) associated with all that lives and grows in the trees.

  • Four views of the same digging implement with a carved top and a step strapped on with cord.

    Matariki kōrero with Aroha Matchitt-Millar

    Public Programming Specialist, Kaupapa Māori Aroha Matchitt-Millar (Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāti Tarāwhai, Ngāi Tūhoe) talks about her connection to Matariki and mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and shares her kōrero (talk) about the 2024 theme, Matariki Heri Kai, the feast of Matariki. 

  • Tutaekuri. Image courtesy of Nick Roskruge.

    Māori potatoes

    Taewa (or rīwai) is a collective name for the varieties of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) cultivated by Māori.

  • Manuka, Leptospermum scoparium J.R.Forst. & G.Forst., collected 02 Apr 2009, southern Wairarapa, New Zealand. CC BY-NC-NDCC licence. Te Papa (SP087325)

    Rongoā Māori

    Rongoā Māori is the traditional Māori healing system. Ailments are treated in a holistic manner.

  • Tāruke (crayfish pot), 2000, by John Puketapu. Te Papa (ME022091)

    Traditional Māori food gathering

    Before the arrival of metal tools and the gun, Māori used natural resources to make tools for hunting, fishing, eeling, and cultivating crops.

  • Māori woman gardening with a tool called a timo

    Māori gardening tools

    Traditionally, Māori were essentially an agricultural people, with a large portion of their time and attention being given to cultivation.