Pacific Island Diaspora Food — Auckland & Wellington
Pacific NZ
Auckland has the largest Polynesian population of any city on Earth. South Auckland (Ōtara, Māngere, Manukau) is the Pacific food capital of the world outside the islands themselves. Samoan oka, Tongan lupulu, Cook Islands ika mata, Fijian kokoda, Niuean taro parcels — all are available in South Aucklandʻs markets and restaurants. The Ōtara Market on Saturday mornings is the single most important Pacific food market outside the Pacific Islands. Wellingtonʻs Porirua and Lower Hutt have significant Pacific communities. This diaspora food is the Pacific Migration Trail in real time: the same techniques carried across the ocean, now practised in NZʻs cities by the descendants of the people who carried them.