Local Wild Food Challenge Ruapehu

02/09/2025

02/09/2025

It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Debbie Clunie. One of our superstar volunteers. Her warm spirit and willingness to take on every task with a smile, touched everyone around her. She will leave a big hole in the Wild Food Challenge team and will be sorely missed.

19/03/2025

This year, we introduced an exciting new category for preschoolers – the 'Make a Sandwich' challenge. Congratulations to Maya and William for earning the titles of Best Girl and Best Boy in this category!

05/03/2025

Congratulations to Paige Irwin on winning Junior Best Dish Overall with her dish "From Mountain to Sea."

"My dish is based on what I love to do diving and fishing. i wanted to utilize the whole fish including the skin which I used to make skin crisps, to dip in the pate that I made from the fish fillets we used fish snapper and paua from the sea and eel and trout from the mountain lake and river. I also decided to make a watercress and puha pan fried bread to dip as well. I love fishing and I hope you like my water dish. Thank-you."

28/02/2025

Special thanks to Sam from Absolute Meats, Taumarunui. The sausages were delicious. 😋 We'd love to have you come along again next year! Absolute Meats

25/02/2025

Huge congrats to Te-Oti Mareikura Te-Oti Mareikura, the overall winner of the 2025 Ruapehu Wild Food Challenge! Hope you had an awesome time hunting, growing, cooking, and bringing your creation to the table. Can’t wait to see what you all come up with next time!

The GGHC 🍔🐖🦌🥬

The GGHC burger is a small town take on the big town classic, the Kiwiburger. It's coined from the analogy Grow, Gather, Hunt, Cook, which I've been on the journey of for the past few years, learning from mentors and whanau alike. This has been a massive journey thus far.

This is a simple hunted venison and home-kill pork mince patty, homegrown lettuce and tomato, locally grown beetroot and onions, free range eggs, tomato relish and plum sauce lovingly made in town here.

But we also can't forget the staples that make this dish simple and easy to make. That's the sesame buns and mayo, butter, salt, and pepper.

Enjoy the fruits of my efforts.

25/02/2025

Wildfood Challenge 2025 – A Huge Thank You!

What an incredible day! A massive thank you to all our volunteers, contestants, and attendees—we couldn’t have made this event happen without you. From the wild and creative dishes to the hard work behind the scenes, every single person played a part in making this challenge a success.

Your support, enthusiasm, and adventurous spirit are what make this event so special. We appreciate you all and can’t wait to do it again next time!

See you at the next Wildfood Challenge!

20/02/2025

19/02/2025

A big thank you to all our amazing demonstrators for sharing your skills and flavors! 🙌 And a warm welcome to all our visitors – we’re excited to have you at the Wildfood Challenge in Ruapehu! 🌿🍴 Let’s make it a day to remember!