Culinary Arts and Gastronomy Winter Series
| Date: | Monday 10 Aug - Friday 14 Aug |
|---|---|
| Location: | Various locations across AUT's City Campus Auckland New Zealand |
| Cost: | Free and paid events |
AUT’s Culinary & Gastronomy Winter Series is back!
Curated by AUT’s School of Hospitality and Tourism in collaboration with the Pacific Food Lab Aotearoa and the Centre for Critical Food Studies, the AUT Culinary Arts and Gastronomy Winter Series programme for 2026 brings together a mix of academic and industry in an eclectic range of events all designed to excite the tastebuds and stimulate discussion.
Join us once again as we celebrate food as storytelling and reflect on the evolving food cultures that shape kai in Aotearoa’s largest and most diverse city.
Monday 10 August
Pacific Food Lab Aotearoa: Food Insecurity, Students, and Food Literacy
3.30pm-4.30pm
School of Hospitality & Tourism, WH Building, WH415
Free event
Food insecurity is an increasing challenge for tertiary students in Aotearoa New Zealand. Recent research found that almost half of surveyed students experienced food insecurity, with rising food costs, financial pressures, and limited time for cooking identified as key barriers. Students living away from home were particularly vulnerable.
With many students reporting a need for greater support with budgeting, meal planning, and preparing affordable, healthy meals, this presentation explores student food insecurity through a community and food systems lens, while highlighting the role of food literacy in building resilience.
Join Professor Tracy Berno and the Pacific Food Lab Aotearoa team for some kai and kōrero as they discuss practical initiatives that combine food support with education, demonstrating how food literacy, community engagement, and food sovereignty can contribute to a more equitable and resilient food future for students across Aotearoa.
Tuesday 11 August
The Resilient Roots of Taro
1.30pm-2.30pm
School of Hospitality & Tourism, WH Building, Room WH415
Free event
Join us for a taro talk and tasting as we celebrate this remarkable crop.
From root to leaf, taro is deeply woven into the food cultures of the Pacific Islands and beyond.
In this session, we explore its journey through early Polynesian migration across the Pacific, as well as its entanglement with European colonial histories in the region.
In Aotearoa, taro continues to hold powerful significance, connecting diverse Asian and Pacific communities and serving as an important symbol of food sovereignty within marginalised food systems. Through storytelling and tasting of unique savoury & sweet taro dishes, we reflect on taro as both sustenance and cultural continuity.
As a special addition, participants will receive a digital recipe book featuring migrant taro dishes and stories — a shared archive of memory, resilience, and belonging expressed through food.
Presented by Lecturer Dianne Ma and Janica Bayogan and supported by The Pacific Food Lab Aotearoa and Slow Food Auckland
Wednesday 12 August
Slow Food Auckland Marketplace
10am–2pm
AUT City Campus, WG Building, Sir Paul Reeves Atrium
Free event
To celebrate urban food production and local food systems, we are once again partnering with our friends at Slow Food Auckland to bring back the amazing Winter Series Market Day!
Join us to meet local producers, hear their stories, and taste their carefully crafted products. This is a chance to connect directly with the people growing, making, and shaping Auckland’s food future, and to learn how you can get involved in strengthening more sustainable, resilient food systems.
Local, seasonal, sustainable, and artisanal — this market brings food straight from producer to plate. It is a living snapshot of what a better food future can look like: grounded in community, transparency, and care.
Come experience the future of food in action, one conversation and taste at a time.
Thursday 13 August
Proudly made in Geraldine: a taste of Barkers
1pm-2pm
School of Hospitality & Tourism, WH Building, Room WH415
Free event
Warm up your winter with a delicious tasting workshop hosted by our friends from Barker’s of Geraldine. This interactive session will showcase a selection of Barker’s much-loved products, from warming winter favourites to versatile pantry staples.
You’ll enjoy guided tastings, discover new flavour combinations, and pick up practical tips for using Barker’s products in everyday meals, entertaining, and seasonal recipes. Whether you’re looking for fresh inspiration or clever serving ideas, this workshop is a great chance to learn directly from the experts behind one of New Zealand’s iconic food brands.
Come along, taste something new, ask questions, and leave with plenty of ideas to bring extra flavour to your winter table. Perfect for food lovers, home cooks, and anyone keen to explore quality New Zealand-made products.
The Taste Test: Old School vs New School Wines
5pm-8pm
School of Hospitality & Tourism, WH Building, Four Seasons Restaurant
$40 per person (18+ years)
Old world foundations. New world innovation. One discerning table. Our hugely popular Winter Series wine event is back. Join us for a dynamic guided tasting that puts tradition and innovation head-to-head in the glass. Led by wine lecturer Mario Basnayake, this interactive experience invites you to explore how Old World heritage styles compare with the bold, expressive approaches of New World winemaking.
Across a curated selection of world-class varietals, you’ll taste, compare, and debate each pairing as it is matched with complementary food. Does classic structure and restraint outperform modern fruit-forward flair, or do contemporary techniques redefine balance and expression?
Set within an engaging, social format, this event challenges your palate and perspective while deepening your understanding of global wine styles, terroir, and food pairing principles. Whether you lean traditional or embrace the new wave, this is your chance to decide which style truly wins the taste test.
Friday 14 August
Everybody Eats /Pacific Food Lab Aotearoa lunch for all collab
11.30am–2.30pm
WG Building, Sir Paul Reeves Atrium
$ Pay what you can per person – bookings recommended
Join us for a special fundraising lunch event in support of the community-driven kaupapa of Everybody Eats.
This one-off dining experience hosted by the Pacific Food Lab Aotearoa celebrates the power of food to connect people, reduce waste, and create meaningful social impact. Guided by the values and practices of Everybody Eats, AUT culinary students will work alongside chefs and volunteers to create a thoughtfully designed menu using rescued and seasonal ingredients.
More than just a lunch, this event offers guests the opportunity to experience a hospitality model built on generosity, sustainability, and inclusion. Everybody Eats is an innovative, charitable restaurant, transforming rescued ingredients into quality meals, for everyone to enjoy on a pay-what-you-can basis.
Be part of an inspiring afternoon of exceptional food, conversation, and community, while supporting a vision for a more equitable and sustainable food future in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Pay-what-you-can event
This event operates on a pay-what-you-can model, which means the event is accessible to everyone. Your contribution on the day means you'll get a bargain priced restaurant quality lunch, whilst also paying it forward for others who are struggling right now.
What's on throughout?
Sweet, like Honey: Nectar, Myth, and the Natural World
Lunchtimes 12pm -1pm
School of Hospitality & Tourism, WH Building, Room WH306
$25 per person per session
You are invited to slow down, savour, and indulge in Sweet, Like Honey — a curated series of five lunchtime presentations exploring the cultural, historical, and sensory worlds of sweetness.
Led by Senior Lecturer Suzanne Bliss and Chef Lecturer Michael Choi, this midday escape blends short, engaging talks with thoughtfully designed sweet and savoury food and beverage pairings that bring each theme vividly to life. Across the series, sweetness is examined as both material and metaphor: from Greek mythology’s sacred associations between bees and divinity, to medieval European honey cakes that reveal evolving human relationships with honey and craft.
We trace sweetness through moments of absence and ingenuity, such as early substitutes and improvisations when honey and sugar were scarce, and into contemporary expressions where ingredients like beetroot and fermentation reinterpret what “sweet” can mean.
From blossoms to beehives, participants will sample New Zealand mono-floral honeys, experiencing terroir through taste. Alongside celebration, the series also considers urgency: the ecological pressures facing bee populations and the implications for future food systems.
Sweet, Like Honey is both an indulgence and an inquiry — a sensory journey into sweetness, sustainability, and the stories we taste.
Pick one session or attend them all!
- Monday 10th August
Sweet, Like Honey: Food of the Gods - Tuesday 11th August
Sweet, Like Honey: Let them eat Cake - Wednesday 12th August
Sweet, Like Honey: Putting down Roots - Thursday 13th August
Sweet, Like Honey: Nectar & Nature - Friday 14th August
Sweet, Like Honey: Save the Bees
Pacific Food Lab Aotearoa Gastronomy Pop-Up Shop
Tuesday 11 August – Friday 14 August
10am–2pm
WH Building, Piko2Go Food store
Celebrating local food producers and artisan crafts persons, our pop-up Gastronomy Shop will be the place to go to satisfy all your culinary shopping impulses!
Open every day of the Winter Series, the shop will be packed with cookbooks, preserves, fresh produce, cheese, charcuterie, bread and culinary knickknacks.
