Manaakitanga Hospitality Awards celebrates slow cooking and sustainability
Home » Blog » Hazel Murray » Manaakitanga Hospitality Awards celebrates slow cooking and sustainabilityNew Zealand's newest hospo awards celebrate sustainability, slow cooking and local produce.
Image from NiCoLett@ via Flickr
It’s awesome to see sustainability become important in every facet of life, and the hospo industry is one area with tremendous scope for change. New Zealand’s newest hospo awards, held in the Rodney District just north of Auckland, are celebrating sustainability as well as local products and suppliers.
The Manaakitanga Awards (which literally means hospitality) have 16 categories including Outstanding Local Food Producer and Outstanding ‘Slow’ Dish. Go to the Manaakitanga website to hear Rodney District Council's Geremy Hema discuss the awards, and the meaning behind the concept of Manaakitanga.
The category for ‘Outstanding Slow Dish’ is unique to these awards. The concept of slow food lives by the equation: Good + Clean + Fair = Sustainable, Quality Food.
- Good: It tastes good and gives us pleasure to eat it.
- Clean: It respects the environment, animal welfare and our health.
- Fair: Those who produce it should receive fair compensation for their work.
Using local food is encouraged as it strengthens local communities by fostering relationships between local businesses, and uses less food miles and packaging, which means less pollution.
Last year’s winner was Matakana’s Heron's Flight for its Kahawai dish.
Auckland Slow Food Convivium leader Hamish Pilkington thinks the Rodney District has huge potential to lead the way in the slow food area. "The Rodney District has a vibrant food heritage and many local producers who share the same principles as our movement," he says.
Nominations close on 17 May, so if you want to reward a place near you, get onto the website. Following nominations, a panel of experts will select finalists then members of the public get to vote on their favourites in July and August. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October.
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