Aug 15, 2025 Metro Eats
Kia ora,
It’s a strange and unsettled political moment in this city right now, for many reasons, not least because we’re faced with two looming important, locally specific elections. Local elections are coming up next month, and the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election — triggered by the death of Takutai Moana Kemp earlier this year — begins on 25 August.
To mark these concurrent elections, I’ll be publishing a few (food-themed) Q&As with various candidates in this newsletter. I really like asking politicians about food, not just because it can be a balm to the potential ugliness of elections — but it’s also a lens through which we can better understand how someone honestly sees the world. So this week, ahead of the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election, I sent a handful of kai-related questions to the two leading candidates vying for the seat: Labour’s Peeni Henare and Te Pāti Māori’s Oriini Kaipara.
Oriini Kaipara wasn’t able to respond in time, so this week the floor belongs to Peeni Henare who is vying for the Tāmaki Makaurau seat. (Responses have been lightly edited for style.)
Metro: What’s the first dish you’re reaching for at the wharekai dining table?
Peeni Henare: Kaimoana. Anything and everything.
Metro: What makes kai in Tāmaki Makaurau so uniquely special?
Peeni Henare: It’s the fusion element of the food in Tamaki Makaurau where you mix staple Māori cuisine with the melting pot of diversity. For example: Pāua wontons.
Metro: Tāmaki Makaurau constituents live across the city, but are concentrated in the south and west. What’s the best spot for kai in each of these corners of the city?
Peeni Henare: In the South it would have to be Tiny’s Hangi, the mobile food truck on Weymouth Rd. It’s authentic, great value for money, and comes with all the trimmings. My personal favourite is the frybread. Out West is Rewi Spraggon, Hangi Master. They’re based all over Auckland, but he’s a hardcore Westie. His culinary skills are consistently providing high-level delicious dishes for both corporate events and whānau (and he’s my cousin).
Metro: What would you like to see more of when it comes to kai in Tāmaki Makaurau?
Peeni Henare: Tāmaki Makaurau as a whole has everything, but often the availability is concentrated in different suburbs. It would be nice to have the availability across Tāmaki Makaurau. With that being said, there are some hidden treasures in suburbs around the city, you just have to look hard for them.
Metro: What do you see as the most pressing food-related issue for the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate? What policy changes are needed to address this?
Peeni Henare: The cost of living is just too high right now. Weekend markets are a great place to get good bargains. We need to lower the cost of living and break up the supermarket duopoly to make good food accessible to whānau.
Metro: Food insecurity is one issue, but so is access to traditional kai for Māori. For many urban Māori, traditional kai is a vital connection to identity. How can we strengthen that connection — especially when facing barriers like polluted gathering sites or physical separation from ancestral food places? If you could do one thing to change this, what would it be?
Peeni Henare: It would be to connect Māori primary product exporters to their tribal kin in Auckland. Māori producers provide world-class primary products around the world but don’t have a strategy to connect with their own iwi. Marae in Tāmaki Makaurau regularly have functions and events that can bring all Māori together across Tāmaki Makaurau. Te Mahurehure regularly has Kasey and Karena Bird host evenings utilising traditional Māori foods to bring us together.
Metro: Māori food-growing knowledge and practices were central to the development of Tāmaki Makaurau. How might we honour that history going forward?
Peeni Henare: By supporting community gardens, of which there are plenty of in Tāmaki Makaurau, but more importantly better urban planning to protect waterways and restore land-cultivating practices.
Metro: It has been argued that kai Māori is often underrepresented in this city’s food landscape. What, if anything, do you think this reflects about the experience of Māori in Tāmaki Makaurau?
Peeni Henare: The urban drift of the 60s and 70s has had an impact on our culinary practices and our tastes. Whānau have too often purchased food they can afford instead of carrying on traditional food-growing and harvesting practices. For generations now we have seen an evolution of culinary practices and taste in Tāmaki Makaurau where Polynesian food is a staple.
Metro: Part of the complexity of representing this seat is that many Māori in Tāmaki Makaurau come from iwi outside the rohe — or may not know their iwi at all. How can kai help foster connection for urban Māori?
Peeni Henare: Bringing us together, whether we’re growing, eating, or sharing.
Metro: Lastly, what’s a dish that makes you think of home?
Peeni Henare: In Tāmaki Makaurau it would be hāngi, even the steamed kind. Hāngi, not just because of the flavours, but because of the whānau coming together to prepare, to eat, and to share.
Tāmaki Makaurau by-election information:
Voting opens Monday 25 August and closes Saturday 6 September.
You can find your nearest voting place HERE and check or update your enrollment ONLINE.
Hei kōnā mai,
Charlotte
Where we’re going.
A bunch of local eateries and cake makers are teaming up this Sunday 24 August with a two-venue fundraiser for Palestine along Dominion Rd. Head to RALPH’S from 12pm for a lunch pop-up including a special menu, and desserts from NEAT CAKES. Check their social media for the latest menu updates. Or, head around the corner to Neat Cakes from 10am for a bake sale with contributions from BURNT BUTTER, SUNDAY THE BAKERY, JAIME’S CUPCAKERY, MUDITA — plus free coffee courtesy of FLIGHT COFFEE. All proceeds will go directly to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
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Later that evening, GEMMAYZE ST and PICI are joining forces in St Kevins Arcade for a shared dinner in support of Gaza. The event will include performances from Rana Hamida & the Habibi Orchestra and Geneva AM, with 100% of proceeds donated to the Global Movement to Gaza (which you can learn more about HERE). Tickets are sold out but you can donate directly to the movement HERE.
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Looking ahead: on 30 August, Nic and Mist, whose pandesal were featured in the latest issue of Metro in a piece on Facebook Marketplace baking, will be popping up at the FILIPINO MARKET at Te Atatū Peninsula Community Centre from 10am to 3pm. I can’t recommend their pandesal enough (and you should also BUY a copy of Metro to read the article).
