The new culture of New Zealand is cooked up amid volcanoes

"We want to share the flavours of our country, New Zealand, a relatively new country which is still searching for its own personality, with a tradition that is now being brought to the fore and appreciated, especially concerning our relationship with volcanoes", explained Kārena and Kasey Bird. The two Kiwis had arrived from Maketu (New Zealand) to "transmit the flavours of our country", which are affected by major geothermal activity around the islands in the Tasmanian Sea.

“For us it's so normal to live around magmatic soil, and we use it to cook instead of the oven. Now they're a tourist attraction, but the boil pits were used on a daily basis by our ancestors for years", the sisters went on, in an attempt to  explain the daily round of a country surrounded by volcanoes. “In our culture, we're all one. The natives believe that volcanoes are living beings, that they have wisdom, and that they're the earth's energy. An unborn child that arrives when the volcano erupts".

An intimate and normal relationship they have with volcanoes. In addition to the pits, the Birds explained that each New Zealand family has volcanic stones, which they chiefly use to cook vegetables and tubers. “Families look after them, and they're passed down through the generations. There's even a kind of competition to decide who has the best ...".

Kārena and Kasey Bird cooked two recipes, one steamed and one fired, "the most traditional techniques of our cuisine", and also explained their current function as gastronomic storytellers, using cookery to explain stories and create culture. “Cooking is a wonderful way of bringing people together and bridging cultural gaps, to bring people into contact and unite them". The winners of Masterchef New Zealand 2014 rounded off their talk by explaining what and how they like to cook: “We're heavily influenced by seafood, wild boar, pork and potatoes, which arrived in New Zealand from Peru. And we don't overcook. We have a lot of respect for produce, and at home our produce is very good".

From a volcanic environment to a volcanic environment. From Lanzarote to New Zealand.