Almost all societies have rituals governing the preparation and consumption of food, and meals are used to mark social boundaries and cement social bonds.
Drawing on her recently-completed doctoral research, history curator Katie Cooper will explore the role of food
in New Zealand’s rural communities, considering how the principles of open hospitality and manaakitanga operated in different social settings in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Feature image: Detail from Group portrait – 16 people (approximately) at picnic, by Crombie and Permin. Purchased 1991. Te Papa (A.009715