Taupō chef Hare Rewi thought eating for health was "a load of rubbish" before meeting his German partner Lilith, a former obstetrician.
Soon he'll merge his Māori food business with Lilith's 'clean eating' cafe Positive Kaibration.
Taupō cafe owners and life partners Hare Rewi and Lilith Howe Photo: Olivia Moore - That Green Olive
Hare worked as a chef for around 30 years in hotels and restaurants before opening Te Wharekai.
Although he grew up eating wild meat and homegrown vegetables, what felt "normal" after leaving home was to eat what everyone around him was eating – takeaways.
Now on a healthier diet, Hare feels different: "I can feel it in my guts and my entire body really, all the changes."
Although he's even developed an appreciation for tofu and tempeh, Hare says he'll always cook the traditional Māori and Pasifika dishes he grew up eating.
"Mum was always cooking for my brothers and me, we ate like pigs… and I just enjoyed cooking with her when I was a little kid … One day she said 'you should be a chef'. She just blurted it out and it kind of stuck."
For Lilith, it wasn't a love of cooking that led to her food business, more a passion for "healthy, clean food" and nutrition.
Travelling the world it's not too hard to find 'clean' food – which she defines as dishes made with whole foods, ideally organically sourced, and without dairy, gluten, refined oil and refined sugar – but Taupō was a different story.
"I liked going out but when there wasn't anything I wanted to eat that kind of dimmed the pleasure of it."
Photo: Positive Kaibration / Facebook
Now, while Lilith is preparing salads and nourish bowls, Hare is next door serving up "old-school" Māori classics like boil-ups, hāngī and frybread alongside loaded fries and burgers.
The hordes of backpackers who visit Taupō seem to like Lilith's healthy food options and are also keen to give Māori food a try, Hare says, so combining their two businesses makes sense.
Māori and Pasifika food served on the new Positive Kaibration menu will be on the clean side, with a focus on hāngī (minus the flour-based stuffing), boil-ups and seafood.
Te Wharekai's super popular frybead and loaded fries will still available from their food truck at the weekend market.)
Photo: Te Wharekai / Facebook
