Kiwi cookery at its funniest
The 11th Wānaka Festival of Colour is on its way, kicking off on 26 March, and with it comes Te Radar's Cookbookery, a comedic celebration of food from the beloved and bizarre cookbooks of our past. Performances will be around the region at the start of April, and promise to tickle your funny bone.
The show takes a deep dive into Aotearoa’s rich – and very weird – home cooking heritage. Rediscovering celebrity chefs such as Graham Kerr, Alison Holst, Aunt Daisy, and Hudson and Halls – there’s no shortage of recognisable names. You’ll get to explore a range of weird and wonderful recipes, including books with content supplied by ordinary Kiwis for school fundraisers, and competitions that suggest some of us were not to be trusted with food.
Originally wanting to be a documentary maker and war correspondent, Te Radar has found joy in presenting what he calls “Docu comedies.” His original path didn’t work out so well when he showed up to two wars, unable to find the war. He says his comedy comes from his inability to do it properly. The cookbookery series has been one of his most fun projects.
“My docu comedies are funny non-fiction works. I’ve done a big one on the history of New Zealand, Antarctic history, and this one just happens to use cookbooks, to a certain extent, as a basis for a really rollicking comedy show,” Te Radar says.
He’s not a chef, “I’m barely a cook,” but the beauty of food is it’s something we can all relate to. Inspiration was sparked for the show during the Wellington on a Plate food festival – they were looking for shows and Te Radar and a friend had been toying with the idea of doing something with food. After flicking through a few Kiwi cookbooks, they realised that there’s enough content to create a show.
“We would find these books, and you’d open them – you would know sometimes when you’d see one of these older cookbooks that this might be good. You’d open it and see something and you laugh and then, that’s in the show.”
The show explores the desperate lengths some of our national cookbooks went to encourage us to eat more dairy, offal and kiwifruit (enter cold, sour kiwifruit soup). Many questions are asked including: Why did we disguise mutton as poultry? Which best-selling cookbook writer thought fried brains were the perfect food for children? And, Is the brilliant ‘Recipes with Canned Foods Are Interesting’ the greatest cookbook in the nation’s history?
“I say to people, you don’t even have to like food to enjoy the show, because it was quite clear from some of the cookbooks that those authors didn’t really like food either,” he jokes. “I like to make shows that can be enjoyed intergenerationally, because there’s not a lot of stuff out there that you can bring your teenage kids and aging parents to.”
He’s looking forward to exploring our region while here, too. In the past he’s come for an A&P Show and judged men’s baking among other things. He believes this area is “exactly where the show should be – because it’s community”.
Te Radar describes the show as the funniest he’s ever done and encourages everyone to bring along family and friends, because that’s also how food is best enjoyed.
“It’s a laugh out loud comedy show that deals with something that everybody will recognise. There’s something there for everybody and you can share it as a whole and share it as a family.”
Te Radar’s Cookbookery is the perfect wee recipe for a night out – the audience at the are also encouraged to bring along their favourite supper dish to share, with a competition for best plate.
Te Radar will be performing as part of Wānaka Festival of Colour at Bannockburn Hall on Tuesday, 1 April, at Hāwea Flat Hall on Wednesday, 2 April, and at Te Atamira on Friday, 4 April.
You can find out more information on this show and check out the full programme for the festival at festivalofcolour.co.nz/
