Light Summer Cooking
Virgil Evetts Who can be bothered with the whole galley slave routine this time of year? It’s far too hot to hang about over the stove, and as heat-heckled appetites grow spartan, the food should too.
Foodlovers Travel
Picnics
During January, along with many New Zealanders we plan to head to the beach, enjoy a summer break and do as little as humanly possible. I have been rustling in cupboards searching out insect repellent, hats and picnic rugs. Food for … Read more
The Summer Barbeque
Virgil Evetts In the close and cloying heat of the Auckland summer I’m so very grateful for my BBQ. For months on end most of my cooking moves outdoors, while the house remains cool and mercifully free of food odours … Read more
Foodlovers In Season: December
Virgil Evetts December is a huge month on the seasonal food calendar, as far as prices are concerned anyway. Growers of premium produce, such as cherries and various succulent berry fruits, work hard to deliver the lion’s share of their … Read more
Foodlovers In Season: November
Virgil Evetts In Season is a new monthly feature, bringing you up to date with the best of local and imported seasonal produce available in the coming month. In Season will be an evolving feature, so we invite your feedback … Read more
Herbal Summer
Virgil Evetts When I was small, my mother took a part-time job packing herbs for what was at the time New Zealand’s only boutique herb (and spice) importer, Ma Hellion. The shop was close to my school, so I’d often … Read more
Oh Honey!
Virgil Evetts This week, after many months of quiet anticipation, I reaped the first luscious rewards of my life as an urban beekeeper – a staggering 10 litres of perfect golden honey. And I’m told this is a very modest … Read more
Strawberries Forever
Virgil Evetts How can John Lennon be 70? Well he can’t be, obviously, but it is at least 70 years since he was born. Maybe it’s because he will forever be frozen as performer in his prime that I find … Read more
Alternatives Toms: my favourite edible heirlooms
Virgil Evetts With the season now lurching towards summer, it’s time to give some thought to the annual backyard tomato crop. Tomatoes are hands-down the number one summer food crop in New Zealand gardens. They are grown not just for … Read more
Life is sweet: A guide to the finest sugars.
Virgil Evetts Cane sugar is one of the most widely used ingredients in our pantries today. Its popularity and use is pan-cultural and it ranks as one of the most important tradable commodities on the planet. We stir it into … Read more
Relax in Rarotonga
I thought there must be a pricing error when I buy an enormous stem of bananas for $6 – there are close to 100 bananas in varying greenish hues with some faintly yellow. I struggle to our little soft … Read more
Let them eat (chocolate) cake
Virgil Evetts Chocolate. Cake. Two words with such a natural affinity for each other, they almost roll of the tongue as one. Though there are many, many different types of cake in the world, in the end there is really only … Read more
The Indian Winter
Virgil Evetts Recently, when I asked Foodlovers readers about their takeaway favourites (and secret shame! how low do you go?) a common theme that emerged was a collective fondness for the flavours of India (and South East Asia), but a preference, … Read more
The Reluctant Baker
Virgil Evetts I’m a cook, DEFINITELY not a chef, and barely or at least very reluctantly a baker. It’s not that I can’t bake, I can hold my own given a bit of persuasion and arm twisting, but I’ve … Read more
