Countdown to Christmas
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| The hangi. | |
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| Topic Started: 14 Dec 2013, 07:18 AM (153 Views) | |
| Sandy | 14 Dec 2013, 07:18 AM Post #1 |
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I'm not sure if anyone's ever tried food that's been cooked in the ground, but I've tried a few different ways, and in my opinion this is the better way.. Basically, a hangi is cooked by heating rocks on a fire, then once they're hot enough the rocks are put in a shallow pit, and the food baskets are put on top of them.. Once that's done everything's covered with either fern or flax and wet sacks to hold in the heat, then a bit of soil is put over that and it's left for a good 3 hours to cook.. The meats always put on the bottom of the baskets as it takes longer to cook, any excess fat will drain off too.. The idea of wet sacks covering the food is mainly to stop the food drying out, but it also stops any soil getting through the flax and fern and into the food.. In the old days the hangi was the best and easiest way of feeding the whole tribe, or iwi.. the other good thing was that there was always too much cooked, so it'd last for a few meals after it was cooked.. Usually hangi's used to be done for big gatherings or meetings, as mentioned it was the easiest way to cook for several hundred people at once.. The work of preparing the hangi was a shared thing, the women and smaller children would help by doing all the vegetables and possibly a little of the preparing the meat while the men did the hunting, digging the pit and getting the food in the ground.. The women and girls weren't allowed in the hangi pit to help dig it out or help get the food in or out, but then by the time they'd helped with food preperation they'd likely done their share.. Most if not all iwi were very strict about women and girls not going in, or near the hangi pit.. Hangi's are still done these days, but usually only for special occasions or gatherings where there's going to be a lot of people around.. There's a lot of work involved in doing a good hangi, but if it's done properly it's well worth having.. There's usually a bit of ceremony involved too, when the food is ready, there's always a karakia, or prayer before everyone eats, depending on the tribe or iwi, that can be either short or very long.. Some iwi used to bless the ground before digging the hangi pit too, a tapu or blessing was I guess a way of making sure the food was okay and didn't have anyone leaving sick or anything.. |
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| funnysis | 6 Jul 2016, 12:11 AM Post #2 |
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That sounds like a good way to have a get together and to celebrate the land and friendship. |
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| Sandy | 6 Jul 2016, 03:46 AM Post #3 |
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It was the easiest way to feed people if there was 400 plus people to feed at once, there's always to much cooked too, so it'd last for 2 or 3 meals... |
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2:03 PM Jul 11
