Kai Pasifika - a celebration of Blue Pacific cuisine – will be held at Peter Gordon’s acclaimed Homeland Restaurant in Auckland early next month and will also feature Samoan chef Dora Rossi.

The event is expected to fire up enthusiasm and excitement amongst chefs and food lovers, New Zealand's Pacific Trade Invest said in a media release issued on Thursday, as culinary techniques and flavours explode to create a fusion of flavours from Pacific-sources food items from the oceans and lands of the Blue Pacific Continent. 

What those food items are is a well-kept secret. Until the chefs turn up on the day with their mystery boxes filled to the brim with all manner of spices, vegetables, root crops, seaweeds, liquors and other exotic goodies.

Kai Pasifika is as much about celebrating the food of the Blue Pacific as it is about being the channel to promote our shared Pacific cultures.

The event, held over four days, will feature some of New Zealand’s finest chefs alongside a small group of highly qualified chefs from Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu who have been invited to participate in Kai Pasifika for the first time. 

They include Dora Rossi (Samoa), the owner of Paddles Restaurant and Milani Café in Apia; Leonid Vusilai (Vanuatu), winner of Pacific Island Food Revolution Season 1 and owner of Island Kakae; Losavati Sewale (Fiji), executive chef at Raymond’s Restaurant and a trainer chef at Fiji Orchid Resort; Rangi Mitaera-Johnson (Cook Islands), consultant chef and trainer at the Rarotonga Cooking School; and Tuiohu Mafi (Tonga), Head Chef at Tanoa Hotel and President of the Tonga Culinary Association.

 This celebration of food and community will help strengthen relationships between Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific, and foster cultural exchange through food creativity, added Pacific Trade Invest. 

More importantly, it will encourage export opportunities for fine foodstuff from the Pacific and showcase Pacific flavours, which will entice Kiwi travellers keen for a food adventure in the Pacific.

 The event is led by Pacific Trade Invest NZ (PTI NZ) in collaboration with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (M.F.A.T.) and Homeland – ‘the Food Embassy for Aotearoa and the Pacific.’

Pacific Trade Invest Trade Commissioner, Glynis Miller, said they had been working on the project with Peter Gordon and his team at Homeland for a long time so it’s a relief to finally see it all coming together thanks to the support of the New Zealand Government.   

"We wanted to promote the Pacific's unique products, tell the stories of its producers, and encourage all of our chefs to create a bond whereby they can teach and learn from each other back in their own countries," Ms. Miller said. 

"It would be fantastic to see a twinning arrangement coming out of this – something our food writers in the media industry could themselves participate and share." 

The M.F.A.T. Director for Pacific Connections, Felicity Bollen says, said they were proud to be partners with the New Zealand's Pacific Trade Invest. 

“We are proud to partner with PTI New Zealand and Homeland to deliver a programme that supports innovation and partnerships with the Pacific," Ms. Bollen said. 

"As we set our sights on new horizons for economic recovery across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, Kai Pasifika AI speaks to our engagement principles of Tātou Tātou and Turou Hawaiiki, and enables us to continue navigating market uncertainties — while reimagining the future of tourism and trade — with our partners in the region.”