Since meeting her hunter husband Dave 13 years ago, wild foodie Mawera Karetai hasn't once bought meat.
Mawera Karetai Photo: supplied
Her "gathering and growing and trading" family is the largest supplier of peacock and turkey feathers in Australasia.
"Farmers who've got a pest problem with peacocks will call us and say 'Can you come and get rid of these birds?' … and we make our living selling the feathers.'
Peacock is beautiful to eat, she says.
"The breast is very lean and it's succulent and absolutely delicious. It's like chicken, but it's very white meat, unlike chicken, which is quite yellow."
The thigh meat is too strong tasting so they get a local butcher to turn that into salami or bier sticks, says Mawera.
On the menu at Mawera's house is deer, wallaby, rabbit, hare and birds, but most of all goat.
Goat is one of the most widely eaten meats around the world, yet in New Zealand we spend a lot of money paying hunters to shoot them and the meat goes to waste, Mawera says.
"That irks me so much because it's walking food."
How New Zealand distinguishes between pests and game animals is a mystery to her.
Pheasant is protected so you can only shoot the birds at certain times of year and if you have a special license, yet it is an introduced species.
"We're using resources to protect those animals that are introduced that we could be instead funding the protection of our endemic species."
Mawera says her pheasant enchiladas can be made with chicken, duck, peacock or really any meat at all.
"Everyone will love you. Guaranteed love."
Mawera's recipes:
Pheasant enchiladas
Perfect peach chutney
Smoked trout and ricotta filo parcels
Rabbit and olives
Wild food: Mawera Karetai
Whakatane-based wild food cook Mawera Karetai prides herself on her ability to rely mainly on nature to keep her freezer and pantry stocked. Audio
Food with Mawera Karetai
Mawera Karetai shares her recipe for a perfect peach chutney. Audio
