Eating is a sensory experience that involves our eyes, mouth - and even our ears. Professor Nazimah Hamid is a food scientist at Auckland University of Technology. She says that when we eat we use all five senses. “My interest is how sound affects the flavour perception of food … [and] when I first started work here it was on music.”

The popularity of kombucha and other fermented foods, like kefir, kimchi, and tempeh has risen on the back of research which shows gut health is closely linked to overall health. Food writer Nikki Bezzant said fermented foods also have a veneer of ancient, exotic wisdom because they've been used in many cultures for thousands of years.

If you google ‘health benefits of turmeric’ you’re going to come up with hundreds of articles proclaiming the spice as a new wonder drug.

But that ‘cure-all’ tag should be a red-flag, according to food and nutrition writer Niki Bezzant.

Pania Tepaiho Marsh started out with a simple mission: teach women how to hunt, so they could fill their fridges for their families. Instead, they walk away with much more - confidence and sisterhood. She talks to Kathryn about how demand for her services have shot through the roof.

Reinstating swamps drained for agriculture can produce more economically by farming eels than dairy, a respected Kaumātua says.

This is one idea in Maanu Paul's vision for soil and food growing in a book being released later this month, Te Mahi Oneone Hua Parakore, or A Māori Soil Sovereignty and Wellbeing Handbook.

A whakatauki, or proverb, is providing inspiration for Te Ati Awa's Liz Mellish who's kicking off a series of food history talks for the Visa Wellington on A Plate festival in the capital next month, by prominent Wellingtonians.

"Nau te rourou, naku te rourou, ka ora te manuhiri" or "with your food basket and mine, the people will thrive."

Ramen. Few things beat this steaming bowl of soupy, noodle-y goodness on a cold night. A close contender for Japan’s national dish, Kiwis too have a soft spot for this iconic bowl of soul. For Yuki and Nobuyuki Yamaguchi, all roads have always lead to ramen.
Making ramen is something their family has done in Japan since the 1970s.

Vegan food was pretty drab up until fairly recently, but today is an exciting time to be eating plant-based, says Ian Theasby of the English vegan cooking duo BOSH!

"About ten years ago... it was lentils and health food shops and mung beans and textured vegetable protein and it was all very dull and dry and boring.

Award-winning chef Monique Fiso has just released a book named after her acclaimed Wellington restaurant.

Hiakai is the book Monique wished she had when she was delving into Māori culinary history and the potential of indigenous ingredients, she tells Kathryn Ryan.