New Zealand is often referred to as Middle-earth. If you think that’s only thanks to its gorgeous landscapes, greenery, and a mountain range which fits almost perfectly into Tolkien’s descriptions, you might be delighted to find out there are even more similarities than that.
For one thing, much like the hobbits, New Zealanders enjoy a good feast with some lively entertainment, loads of food, and free-flowing wine. New Zealand’s annual food festival is world famous, or as Pippin would put it, “a quality establishment. I hear the staff are VERY good.”
Only instead of being something like an actual annual holiday, New Zealand’s food festival is truly a definition of a feast. Seriously – there are more than a hundred events in this year’s Wellington on a Plate, including the Wairarapa Wines Harvest Festival, Hokitika Wild Foods Festival, Havelock Mussel Festival, New Zealand Beer Festival, Marchfest, Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Carnival, Visa Wellington On A Plate, Whitianga Scallop Festival, F.A.W.C! Summer Series, Taste Of Auckland, and Marlborough Food And Wine Festival.
In addition to all that, The Coco at the Roxy Cinema decided to launch Hobbiton on a Plate for Wellington’s Annual Food Festival. Roxy’s head chef Nic Spicer prepared the party’s theme, “An Unexpected Party”.
Spicer researched 16th-century foods to create a menu of canapes to be served at the dinner. He served pickled eggs, pork pies, and faggots–offal wrapped in caul, or the fat from the lining of the stomach–were especially popular on the restaurant’s menu.
The Roxy event has been styled by Weta Workshop co-founder Lady Tania Rodger, and both Weta Workshop and Warner Bros have lent film props, including a hobbit hole. The Cinema hopes to run this event again with the release of the The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug in December. Peter Jackson’s production vlog will be screened and Jed Brophy is on the official guest list.
“The tickets sold so crazily quickly, and I suspect there’s a proportion of that which will be [Hobbit] fans as opposed to foodies,” says Roxy Cinema event and marketing co-ordinator Carole Tredrea. “I’m happy with that; it’s expanding the reach of the food festival.”
So, if you’ve got a hobbit stomach and a tooth for po-ta-toes, remember: you’re not alone! The tickets are in high demand!
To find out more about the Wellington’s Food Festival or for the latest scoop on Hobbiton on a Plate visit Coco At The Roxy or go to Roxy’s official website.
