For Māori, tuna (eels) are a taonga – an important cultural treasure. Māori have over 100 names for eels describing their different colours and sizes, and they are revered as a link to the gods.
Do Māori eat eel?
Eels were a valued food source in traditional Māori society. They were often preserved, and were then called tuna pāwhara or tuna maroke. The backbones, heads and tails were removed and the eels were hung out to dry – or partially cooked on a grating of green sticks over a fire.
What do Māori call eels?
Tuna
*Tuna is a generic Māori word for freshwater eels; however, but there are a multitude of names that relate variously to tribal origins, appearance, coloration, season of the year, eel size, eel behavior, locality, and capture method. Tuna are arguably one of the most important mahinga kai resources for Māori.
How did Māori catch eel?
Māori built weirs to catch eels. These were fences in a river or stream, lined with brush or ferns so the water could get through but eels could not. Eels swam along the fence, which led into a net and then a trap. In the 19th century, Europeans removed eel weirs so they could sail large boats on the rivers.
Are eels native to New Zealand?
The ancestors of modern New Zealand eels (like Anguilla dieffenbachii) had been swimming up and down New Zealand waterways since at least the early Miocene (23 million years ago). The longfin eel is one of the largest eels in the world and it is found only in the rivers and lakes of New Zealand.
What seafood did Māori eat?
Seafood has also long been a significant aspect of Māori diet. Māori fished for a range of inland and coastal fish: tuna (eel), kahawai, kōkiri (leatherjacket), ara ara (trevally) and tarakihi. Shellfish too were harvested: pipi, tuatua and toheroa, kina, queen scallops and pāua.
What did traditional Māori eat?
These crops included wheat, potatoes, maize, carrots, cabbage and other vegetables. Māori also began raising sheep, pigs, goats and poultry. Potatoes were easier to grow than kūmara, and pigs could be fattened quickly, so pork, pūhā and potatoes became a new staple meal.
What does salt do to eels?
Putting a live eel in a container filled with salt both kills it and removes much of its slime. The salt osmotically pulls moisture from the eel, making it increasingly impossible for the fish to breathe. [3] Death takes several hours, and the eel loses something like 5% of its body weight in the process.
Where did eels originate?
The remarkable lifecycle of the eel, a catadromous fish found all over the globe, in fresh and salt water ecosystems alike. Eels begin life in the ocean before migrating in their larval stage to rivers and streams where they can spend decades before returning to the oceans to spawn.
Are freshwater eels poisonous?
Eel blood is poisonous to humans and other mammals, but both cooking and the digestive process destroy the toxic protein.
Is it legal to catch eel in NZ?
The limit for taking eels is 6 per person, per day. This can be either longfin eels, shortfin eels, or a mix.
What does tuna mean in Māori?
(Maori mythology) An eel-god, the son of Manga-wai-roa, one of the lesser Maori deities who lived in a water hole called Muri-wai-o-ata.
What is a Māori taonga?
The term “taonga” refers to all things highly prized, tangible and intangible, material and spiritual. It extends to language, tikanga and cultural preferences, and to other Māori rights and interests in the social policy sphere.
Why are eels special?
Eels are characterized by their elongated, wormlike bodies. Unlike most fish, eels do not have pelvic fins, and most species do not have pectoral fins. Eels have a continuous dorsal, anal, and caudal fin that runs around the tail tip. To swim, eels generate waves that travel the length of their bodies.
Are eels a mystery?
Eels: An Exploration, from New Zealand to the Sargasso, of the World’s Most Mysterious Fish. Snake-like and nocturnal, eels are mysterious creatures. They spawn in remote and nutrient-poor places in the seas, and no human has ever seen one reproduce in the wild.
Do NZ eels bite?
River ranger Millan Ruka from Environment River Patrol Aotearoa said eels biting people is rare. He said at this time of year streams have a pretty low flow, which means very little food is moving through the stream. Ruka said the eel may have mistaken Aron for food.
What is the most common Māori food?
Māori cuisine today
Two dishes regarded as distinctively Māori are the boil up—made of pork, potatoes, kūmara, and dumplings—and pork and puha (sow thistle), which combine introduced and indigenous foods.
What did Māori drink?
It was called waipiro (stinking water), wai kaha (strong water), or, by the few who liked it, waipai (good water). A taste for alcohol was not acquired by significant numbers of Māori until the 1850s; once that had occurred the integration of waipiro into Māori life was vigorously managed.
What did Māori eat before Colonisation?
Pre-European Maori food was gathered from bush, sea, rivers and lakes. Some root crops were cultivated. Birds, fish, shellfish, eels, vegetation, eggs and wild honey were taken and prepared for eating. Obtaining food was a prized accomplishment and food was a symbol of hospitality and generosity.
What fruit do Māori eat?
Māori brought edible plants from Hawaiki, including kūmara, yam and taro. New Zealand kūmara is particularly sweet and grows in the semi-tropical regions of the North Island. It is available in red, gold or orange varieties.
What religion did the Māori follow?
Māori Christianity
Traditionally Māori recognised a pantheon of gods and spiritual influences. From the late 1820s Māori transformed their moral practices, religious lives and political thinking, as they made Christianity their own.