Sometimes we get caught up in making perfect looking food, adding ingredients to improve on the taste of what we are eating or serving and photo editing to improve our food photos.
Today I wanted to celebrate pure, natural, whole, imperfect looking food. Often the most delicious way to eat food is in its natural unadulterated state (apart from in this case a little boiling!)
These gorgeous photos were taken by my friend Shane, of Taewa (Riwai) - Māori Potatoes. The word Taewa refers to a collection of varieties of potato cultivated by New Zealand Māori for at least 200 years.
Taewa have cultural and historical value in New Zealand with traditional varieties of Taewa preserved by Māori and passed down through generations so they’re still available today in their original form. Māori treasure them as a link to their early ancestors.
You won’t find these in a large supermarket, as unlike modern potatoes they have not been bred to produce a high yield.
Like modern potatoes however, these purple Taewa are full of of Vitamin C and fibre. To top it all off they also contain potassium, thiamine, folate and magnesium.
How to cook these babies?
You can cook them just like a standard potato, but they are particularly suited to boiling and steaming. You don’t need to peel them.
My pick – served just as in the picture above – boiled, and finished off with rock salt. Pure and simple.
So here’s to imperfect looking food, which is of course, perfect.
