Pōhā: tītī preserved in kelp bags
Pōhā: conserva de tītī en bolsas de alga
- Date
- c. century XVI (tradición anterior) · confidence low
- Place
- Rakiura (Stewart Island), Southland, New Zealand
- Credited to
- Ngāi Tahu Māori (Rakiura Māori)
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Sooty shearwater chicks (tītī or muttonbird) were cooked in their own fat, packed into bags made of bull kelp (pōhā) and covered with the fat, to keep for months. It is one of the Pacific's most original meat preserves.
The date is a broad estimate: tītī hunting predates European contact, but pōhā preparation is known mainly from 19th-century records and the current tradition of the 'tītī islands'.
What it led to
- a winter reserve on an island without warm-climate crops
- regulated harvesting of birds by Rakiura families, which still continues
- pōhā as an object of exchange and gifting between iwi
Built on
- Smoking and drying of food