■88 Transactions. — Miscellaneous . 



Cooking of Food. 



Possibly you might like to know the origin of the cooking 

 of food. It is this : When Kongo-maui returned from the 

 heavens (from the star Whanui) he brought back with him 

 the kumara (sweet potato) and gave it to Pani-tinaku, saying 

 "This food must be carefully prepared in ovens known as 

 kohukohu. kirihau, potaka, and tvaharoa." " Hence the art of 

 cooking became known to our ancestors. Had it not been for 

 Bongo-maui men would have lived like birds, insects, animals, 

 and other tribes of people, who eat their food raw." 



One Auahi-tu-roa was the personified origin of fire by 

 which food is cooked. Auahi-tu-roa was a descendant of the 

 sun, and married Mahuika : thus the fire-children were pro- 

 duced. 



Cooking is done sometimes in the open, but usually in 

 sheds constructed for that purpose. In the earth floor of 

 these sheds the steam-ovens are often constructed. These 

 cooking-sheds are termed kauta, or whare-kaunga, or here-imu, 

 or muri (also kamuri in Williams's Dictionary). 



The principal method of cooking formerly used was that of 

 the steam-oven, termed hapi, or umu, or imu, or hangi, or 

 tonihinihi, &c. This process of cooking is termed tao. Boast- 

 ing was also practised, and is called tuna. Stone-boiling 

 (huahua) obtained to a certain extent, as we have seen, but, 

 it would appear, merely to heat food, &c, not to actually cook 

 anything tbat required long immersion in boiling water. This 

 latter was reserved for those people living near boiling springs. 



Stone- boiling (huahua) was done in gourd bowls (ipu) and 

 wooden bowls (kumete). The term kohua. applied to metal 

 cooking-vessels obtained from Europeans, is said by these 

 natives to have been applied in pre-European times to vessels, 

 such as the above, that were used for stone-boiling, as the 

 latter part of the word would imply." 



We have already seen how the various foods of old were 

 cooked by these bushmen of Tuhoeland. In these degenerate 

 times cooking is mostly done in iron pots and " billies." and the 

 potatoes and other foods so cooked are much inferior to those 

 cooked in the steam-oven. In boiling maize some ashes of 

 burned rimu or kahikatea bark are cast into the pot. This 

 has the effect of causing the skin of the maize to peel off. 

 The ashes of these barks are used because they do not grit 

 between the teeth when the maize is being eaten. 



The steam-oven is prepared in the following manner : A 

 circular hole of the required size is made in the ground about 

 15 in. in depth for a small hangi, and in tnis a fire is kindled 



* Note the word iqjoko-kohua, certainly an ancient term. Kohua as 

 derived from " go ashore " is not permissible. 



