{"id":94751,"date":"2026-07-22T01:20:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T15:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?p=94751"},"modified":"2026-07-22T01:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T15:20:21","slug":"karena-kasey-bird-maori-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/karena-kasey-bird-maori-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"How travelling inspired these MasterChef-winning sisters to connect with their Maori culture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Karena and Kasey Bird have won cooking competitions, written books and hosted TV shows. But today, they\u2019re focusing on the small Maori community where they grew up.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019d be forgiven for assuming Karena and Kasey Bird<\/a> \u2013 sisters, chefs and winners of 2014 MasterChef New Zealand<\/a> \u2013 remember the extravagant meals the most: the famous restaurants, the elaborate tasting menus, the once-in-a-lifetime reservations…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turns out, one of their favourite meals was a potato cooked on burning donkey dung as they sat on a Peruvian hillside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The farmers dug up the potatoes and peeled the skin off,\u2019 Karena explains. \u2018They had fresh cheese from the goats that grazed on the hill and a herb sauce made from foraged greens. We were sitting on this hill, eating potatoes with cheese and sauce, and I remember thinking: this is unrepeatable.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We could sit there and touch everything that was part of this meal,\u2019 adds Kasey. \u2018Everything was so simple, but the memory is so vibrant. When you eat stuff close to the source, it tastes better \u2013 and it\u2019s better for you.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018It was amazing,\u2019 Karena agrees. \u2018And it was just their everyday lunch.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Karena
Everything tastes better at the source: the sisters visiting potato farmers in Peru<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

An idea takes root<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Peruvian potato was more than an unforgettable lunch. Experiences like this, repeated across the world, were what prompted the Maori sisters from New Zealand to look at their own cultural practices through fresh eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Every time we travel, we realise we\u2019ve got a lot to learn,\u2019 says Karena. \u2018I remember going to South Korea<\/a> and I was with this 80-year-old nanna making kimchi. When I was eating it, I had an epiphany. I\u2019d come all the way to Korea to learn about fermented cabbage and I didn\u2019t even know about the fermentation practices in my own culture.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Korea was the catalyst,\u2019 agrees Kasey. \u2018We\u2019d been travelling around learning all these things from other people but feeling like we had so much more to learn in terms of our own cultural practices and native language.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more: Intrepid’s unmissable food and drink experiences<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Karena
Karena had a realisation about her own culture while making kimchi in Korea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Reconnecting with Maori culture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Karena and Kasey would eventually take a break from travelling to study te reo Maori <\/em>(the indigenous and an official language of New Zealand) <\/em>full time. Their careers were flourishing, but becoming fluent in their native language was a piece they felt they needed to be more authentically themselves. Their next cookbook \u2013 the third overall \u2013 is written entirely in te reo Maori, a project they say has really elevated their connection to culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While studying, they continued living in Maketu, the predominantly Maori community on the North Island\u2019s Bay of Plenty where they grew up. Childhood memories revolved around neighbours dropping off bags of mussels and freshly smoked kahawai (a salmon-like South Pacific fish) or collecting shellfish after school and cooking them over a fire.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As teenagers, they\u2019d save their pocket money and drive three hours to Auckland to tick off their list of the best restaurants. \u2018We were these 16, 17 year olds, from a small rural village,\u2019 says Kasey. \u2018We would have so many people being like, \u201cWho are<\/em> these young girls?\u201d\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I think we took for granted\u00a0how connected we actually were,\u2019 says Karena, reflecting on their childhood.\u00a0This is true of both their culture and their food sources. They spent a lot of time at their marae (Maori\u00a0meeting place) and homes would often have a basket of freshly harvested tomatoes on the table. At one stage,\u00a0it seemed everyone\u00a0in the village was growing garlic.\u00a0They\u2019d\u00a0argue over who had the best garlic until Karena and Kasey\u2019s auntie won a competition and put the question to bed. It\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0until the sisters moved away \u2013 to the city, specifically \u2013 that they\u00a0realised\u00a0this\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0the norm for everyone.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more: The First Nations foods you need to try in Down Under<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Sisters<\/figure><\/div>
\"MasterChef<\/figure><\/div>
\"Karena<\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Digging deep into hangi feasts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

They also grew up having communal meals and doing hangis \u2013 the traditional Maori method of cooking food underground using heated rocks buried in a pit oven, which Intrepid travellers can experience while visiting New Zealand. These community feasts are prepared in the spirit of manaakitanga (hospitality), often for celebrations and formal events, and begin long before anyone eats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, a pit is dug in the earth and a fire built over stones. Once the stones have absorbed the heat, hunks of pork, beef and lamb are lowered onto the rocks, along with vegetables like sweet potatoes. Everything is covered with damp cloths and sacks \u2013 or flax leaves, traditionally \u2013 then buried to seal in the heat. The food is cooked for hours before being dug up, resulting in soft, tender meat and veggies infused with earthy flavours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We\u2019ve realised we\u2019re really accustomed to cooking underground,\u2019 says Karena. \u2018It\u2019s something we do often. In other countries, it might only be done for big occasions, but we could do a hangi ourselves this afternoon if we felt like it.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more: Authentic ways to connect with Indigenous culture<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Experimenting<\/figure><\/div>
\"Showcasing<\/figure>
\"Mastering<\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

A new chapter in culinary storytelling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While filming their award-winning travel-cooking show, Karena and Kasey\u2019s Kitchen Diplomacy, they visited a number of other countries with similar underground cooking methods. It inspired them to host an event called \u2018Beneath the Surface We\u2019re All Connected\u2019, for which they cooked different dishes and flavours from each of the countries they\u2019d been to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We found they even had an underground cooking method in Chile<\/a>, but they would put seafood and chorizo and all these different things in,\u2019 says Kasey. \u2018So, we experimented with putting chorizo and New Zealand\u2019s green-lip mussels in our hangi, and with different techniques, like in New Caledonia<\/a>, where they add fresh coconut milk, so it\u2019s almost a stew.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their events became even more ambitious. After visiting one restaurant in China<\/a>, they were inspired to experiment with how audiovisuals might be used to tell a story about the dishes being served. From this, they realised they too had some amazing historical stories they could be telling and representing on a plate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their first immersive dining experience, \u2018The Creation Dinner\u2019, celebrated Maori deities and the creation story, while their most recent \u2018Maumahara\u2019 \u2013 which means \u2018to remember\u2019 in Maori \u2013 was themed around nostalgia, exploring what it means to grow up in Aotearoa, the flavours that shaped their tastebuds and the way Te Ao Maori (the Maori worldview) influenced their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We had a dish based on the Maori language reclamation movement,\u2019 Kasey explains. \u2018Our mum spoke about getting strapped for speaking our language and having her mouth washed out with soap, so we created a dish that looked like soap to be served as a palate cleanser.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hearing stories like this might be confronting for diners, or leave them feeling uncomfortable, but Karena and Kasey had expressed a desire to move from palatable to political and have spoken about how empowering the shift has been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Our travels have given us the confidence to tell our stories in a way where we can speak our truth,\u2019 says Kasey. \u2018We can show who we are through our food.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"One
Expanding out into immersive cooking events has been a way to showcase their culture<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It all goes back to taste<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For Karena, the event was political commentary in food form, a reflection of past struggles and the issues still facing New Zealand. But taste remained the top priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I think that ideas are sometimes stronger than actual deliciousness,\u2019 she says. \u2018I\u2019m really conscious of that. A lot of Maori have never experienced degustation (tasting menus), they\u2019re quite intimidated to go into these formal dining spaces, so I want to make the dishes approachable and inventive. There are certain ingredients, like watercress, that will always give a Maori flavour.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Kasey and Karena see food as a pathway to meaningfully connect with Indigenous cultures, including their own. Whenever they travel, they\u2019ll seek out local cooking classes that give back to the community and spend time learning what\u2019s culturally appropriate, believing that\u2019s how you respectfully become part of a place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They say a plate of food reveals the history of a land and tells the story of its people. Years ago, in Peru, they were deeply moved by a meal rooted in place; now, they\u2019re creating that same feeling back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connect with Maori culture<\/a> on Intrepid\u2019s small-group adventures in New Zealand<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

Food-focused adventures<\/h2>
South Korea Real Food Adventure<\/a><\/div>
8 days<\/span><\/div>
View trip<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
India Real Food Adventure<\/a><\/div>
13 days<\/span><\/div>
View trip<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
China Real Food Adventure<\/a><\/div>
10 days<\/span><\/div>
View trip<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Karena and Kasey Bird have won cooking competitions, written books and hosted TV shows. 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