Celebrating the diversity of cultures that call Mid Canterbury home is the focus for the annual Autumn Festival Hakatere Multicultural Bites.
It is on at the Ashburton Domain on Saturday from 11am to 3pm.
There will be singing, music and dancing performances, and more than 20 sites selling tasty bites of food from countries around the world.
Anna and Brad Raukawa and their family are returning for their second year providing food celebrating Aotearoa.
Anna said they will be making traditional Māori fried bread with creamed paua along with local organic apple juice.
‘‘We have chosen these dishes because they are important to our whanau and culture.
‘‘The paua used in the recipe has been handpicked by our whanau at Makara beach in Wellington where Brad grew up.
‘‘Our apple juice is produced by a local family and is made with locally grown apples,’’ Anna said.
The creamed paua is special to the family as the recipe has been passed down from Brad’s maternal whanau.
‘‘We are looking forward to being part of the festival, trying different foods prepared by wonderful people and being able to enjoy the cultural entertainment,’’ Brad said.
The family had attended previous Multicultural Bites and enjoyed the amazing mix of culture.
‘‘Our experience last year was awesome, we loved the busy atmosphere and lovely people.
‘‘This event is an absolute credit to the organisers and we hope everyone enjoys it as much as we do,’’ Anna said.
Judges will have the difficult task of choosing the best bite. Each stall gets to present one bite of their best food to the judges.
The public also gets to vote for their favourite bite.
– Autumn Food Festival Hakatere Multicultural Bites at the Ashburton Domain from 11am to 3pm. Free entry take cash to purchase the $4 food tickets.
