I ATE mutton bird today.
Lake Taupo local and world-class chef Tom Loughlin included the Maori delicacy in a feats he prepared that also included muscle fritters, venison that came from his block 60km outside town, and baked vegetables from farms in the area.
Tom runs The Kai Waho Experience, a Taupo company that takes visitors onto an isolated piece of Maori trust land and exposes them to his heritage and culture while preparing traditional food for them to enjoy.
I spent all day yesterday with Tom on his Block – he runs the food tours during the summer months, and for the rest of the year guides hunters and adventurers around his property – and today we went to one of Taupo’s most prestigious accommodations for another feast.
We had lunch at The Point Villas and while Tom cooked up the feast of traditional Maori foods in the kitchen of the upper house we got to enjoy the view of Lake Taupo from a perch on the side of a hill above a rocky beach.
As for the mutton bird, it was a bit too oily for me.
It tasted a lot like anchovies, not unpleasant but a little salty and very heavy, and after I sampled the traditional culinary creation I elected not to take a second helping because it felt like I was eating a bird that had been caught in an oil spill.
And eating something called mutton bird reminded me of a rather unpleasant gourmet experience involving a pigeon in Vietnam a decade ago.
