What‘s Fresh served up by Visa Wellington On a Plate

Joel Teka, the son of an Ethiopian refugee had initially set out to be a graphic designer, but his creative career took a delicious new culinary direction. Find out how he went from roasting beans in his studio to becoming Wellington's first authentic Ethiopian restaurant.

We’re taking you on a journey which began in the vineyards of the Rhône Valley, Lyon, which is known among food lovers as the centre of gastronomy. Florent Souche, Head Sommelier and F&B Operations Manager at QT Wellington, shares not only how a one year holiday turned into a lifetime, but how the most famous grape varietals of France took root in New Zealand.

From farmers in India to sugar plantations, to market gardeners, fruit shops and now to hospitality tech in New Zealand. Hear from Sanjay Dayal who shares his family knowledge and love of connecting customers with the tastiest and freshest produce.

We travel back in time to the years of the legendary Cuba Fruit Mart, a hub that connected chefs, customers and producers for many decades to today where the Dayal family helps facilitate interactions between chefs and producers with technology.

This podcast was hosted by Teresa Cowie of Connect Content.

For season 2 of What’s Fresh, hear from four immigrant communities who have shaped Wellington’s food scene by bringing a range of flavours and techniques to the capital. Starting with Head of Mission Her Excellency Ms Nur Izzah Wong Mee Choo, High Commissioner of Malaysia, who will take us back to the origins of the Malaysian flavours everyone is so familiar with in Wellington.

From farmers’ markets to supermarkets, olive oil is almost everywhere these days, but restaurateur Andronicos Economous from Wellington's Greek Cypriot Community, can remember a time when the pharmacy was the only place you could buy it - even then it was only in tiny medicine bottles.

In this episode, Andronicos shares the history of Wellington's once-thriving, now almost forgotten Hellenic Mile.

* a taverna (Greek: ταβέρνα) is a small Greek restaurant that serves Greek cuisine. The taverna is an integral part of Greek culture.

In this second episode, we're taking you to Te Papa during our Food Stories Speaker Series to hear from Esther Fung from the Wellington Chinese Association. 

Haining Street was once the centre of Wellington's Chinese community. It was a place to meet and eat home-style Chinese cooking. Over the years replaced with apartment blocks, it left little trace of what was once Wellington's Chinatown. However, its lasting influence is now dispersed throughout the capital.

Discover about the cookhouses providing the comfort of home cooking to a mainly bachelor community in Haining Street at the turn of the 20th century, and the influences on our dining scene from the diversity of more recent Chinese immigrants.

Our Wellington Food Story Speaker Series took place every Tuesday during Visa Wellington On a Plate 2021 at Te Papa‘s Te Marae Rongomaraeroa. For 2021, we heard from four immigrant communities that have shaped Wellington‘s food scene over the decades.