Saturday 22 February 2025
Wild Food Challenge Ruapehu
About Us
Local Wild Food Challenge Ruapehu
Local Wild Food Challenge is all about combining a passion for the outdoors and the culinary arts. Embrace your inner hunter and gatherer and design a unique dish to be judged by our professional wild food enthusiasts.
It’s an exciting opportunity to showcase your skills and connect with nature through the flavours of the wild.
Categories
Share your story through your culinary creations. Choose from one of the following categories - or blend them together - to craft a dish that tells your unique tale.
Categories are for adults and kids!
Water
Whether it's fresh water or salt water, eel or Pāua and eveything in between. Use water to inspire you.
Wing
Birds of a feather, make your dish come together.
Ground
From venison, goat, boar and rabbit or perhaps home grown kumara or handpicked mushrooms. Let ground lead your dish.
Story
Each dish must be accompanied by the story behind it. Your story can tell of your inspiration, how you caught the game or any other aspects that made your dish come together.
Use of wild ingredients
You don’t have to just use one wild ingredient as the focus of your dish.
Drink
Create a beverage from wild berries or lemons you’ve picked from you neighbour's backyard.
Dessert
Do you have a sweet tooth? This category is for you.
Effort
Let your passion shine through your dish.
Preschool - make a sandwich
Use homegrown lettuce or perhaps a venison patty - young kids can get creative to. Parental guidance encouraged but it doesn't need to be perfect.
Best Overall
You may use a variety of wild ingredients with a combination of your story to create a dish the judges won’t forget.
Free entry for competitors! Exciting prizes to be won across all categories!
Dishes
Past Contestants Entry's
Watercress and Venison Salad
Tossed with tomatoes and cucumber
Wild Goat & Blackberry Meatballs
Served with zucchini noodles
Baby Billy Burgers
Stuffed zucchini with blossoms
Want to see previous years photos...
What is the Local Wild Food Challenge Ruapehu?
Create an entry featuring at least one wild ingredient. Entries maybe hot, cold, frozen, liquid – anything you feel like creating!
HOW DOES IT WORK?
1. SOURCE
- Get out into your natural environment! Dive, Walk, Climb, Fish, Forage, Hunt, Barter, Gather.
- More Effort = More Points.
2. HARVEST
- Beach, Bush, Mountain, River, Forest, Ocean, Lake. Your Garden or Someone Else’s
-More Local Ingredients = More Points
3. PREPARE
- Shuck, Slice, Marinate, Chop, Smoke, Bake, Ferment, Pickle, Distill, Brew.
- Bring Most of Your Dish Prepared in Advance.
4. ENTER
- Write a story about your dish. What happened on your culinary adventure. Tells us about the ingredients, what was the inspiration…
- Fill out the Registration Form on the day or by clicking the here.
2025
Demonstrations
Not only will you have the chance to savor the delicious dishes prepared by our participants, but we also have incredibly talented individuals who will be sharing their expertise through live demonstrations.
Special Thanks to:
