Question: What Is a Hangi?
Answer: If you're invited to a hangi in New Zealand, what would you expect?
Hangi actually refers to the method of cooking in the ground with hot stones, or to the underground oven so created, and to the food so cooked.
When you're asked to a hangi, you're actually being invited to a feast of Maori food cooked in the manner described. Various types of meats and vegetables, such as kumara or sweet potato, are wrapped in leaves or, in an acquiescence to modernity, aluminium foil. These items of wrapped food are then placed in a hole in the ground and cooked with hot stones.
Hangi is also known by the term umu.
Particularly in New Zealand towns like Rotorua, a number of hotels often serve hangi, accompanied by Maori music and folk dancing.
This is a real "taste" of Maori culture.
