"Unique Taste Treats” Not Easy To Get

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29829, 23 May 1962, Page 9

"Unique Taste Treats” Not Easy To Get

New Zealand’s "unique taste treats,’’ as they are described in the latest "Pacific Hotel Directory and Travel Guide" —toheroa soup, paua fritters, whitebait, oysters, crayfish, ■ wild pork, venison, and raini bow trout—are not always all r available in Christchurch, aci cording to inquiries made of ’ leading hotels and restau- ! rants. : Toheroa soup made from > the fresh shellfish is virtually impossible to obtain, while - only one establishment in the i city said it could serve paua ; fritters, and then only if given f notice. Fresh whitebait and - oysters are only available in . season, and then, like cray- - fish, according to supply. Wild , pork and venison can be . found on hotel and restaurant 1 menus only occasionally, and 1 rainbow trout even more . rarely—in fact, trout may not be sold commercially, and the s only chance of its getting . to the dining table legally is i by a gift from a successful j angler. 1 Almost the whole of the commercial production of t toheroas is now. canned, so . that only a tinned toheroa s soup is likely to be found on a Christchurch hotel menu. Two hotels in the city serve tinned toheroa soup on Friday evenings. There is a misapprehension, even extending to hotel chefs, i that wild pork and venison ! may not be served on menus • without some form of official ’ meat inspection. This is not - so. Wild pork and venison : are not meat under the de- : finitions of the Meat Act. 1939, 1 and its amendments, said a • Department of Agriculture » senior meat inspector yesteri day. It is regarded as game, and as such is not subject to

■ any form of official inspecI tion. The chefs of two restaurants and one hotel said yes- . terday that they never served , wild pork. There was a sickness in wild pigs which could be transmitted to humans through eating the pork, one man said. Another hotel chef said that his establishment served wild pork occasionally, when it could be obtained from’ a private hunter. “I re- ■ member that I once boned 1 and stuffed some wild pork which was so good it quickly went off the menu," he said. Venison finds less prejudice i among both food preparers and diners, and, when availI able, is variously served 1 devilled, braised, roasted, stuffed, or seasoned. Only one hotel said yesterday that it had occasionally served trout on its menus. Under regulation 85 of the Fresh-water Fisheries 1 Regulations, 1951, trout may not be sold, or exposed for sale. Regulation 86 goes further, and says: “No person ’ shall give or receive any acclimatised fish in compensation, as consideration, or by way of exchange, for anything done, or for services rendered, or for any materials or things supplied.” However, if some of the above delicacies are not always obtainable in Christchurch, “beef, ham, and lamb 1 are superb in New Zealand," 1 as the hotel directory reminds. "Some tourists are fortunate enough to sample the de- ' lights of a Maori hangi—- . meat, fish, and vegetables cooked on hot stones in an earth oven,” it says. “No i health problems here.”