This 1998 TV series marked the screen debut of Kiwi chef Jo Seagar. Seagar had attracted notice with her bestselling 1997 recipe book You Shouldn't Have Gone To So Much Trouble, Darling. The goal of the first episode of the 13-part series is to “take the angst out of entertaining”. Some of Seagar’s “short cuts and clever little tricks and tips” include doubling up on pastry trays, and being stingy with the caviar (“if you use a whole lot they don’t think it’s real”). She also applies her nursing training to bandaging chicken breasts. 

Well-known Kiwi chef Jo Seagar trained as a cordon bleu chef in London and France, before returning home to promote a culinary style involving “maximum effect, minimum effort.” Her 1997 best-selling book You Shouldn't Have Gone To So Much Trouble, Darling caught TVNZ’s attention and Real Food marked her TV debut. The two series covered recipes from sushi to pecan pie. In a 2012 interview with Avenue, Seagar mentioned that the show rated highly, despite Television New Zealand initially telling her that a food show would never screen in primetime.

Without food life would not only be boring, but impossible. Television networks obviously agree: scan the TV listings, and cooking programmes are visible everywhere from My Kitchen Rules to Masterchef and Come Dine with Me. This collection offers up a smorgasbord of local chefs and culinary delights, and the chance to look back at a kinder, less competitive style of cooking show. Featuring the legendary Alison Holst, 1960s era import Graham Kerr, Wellington’s Logan and Brown, the sometimes cruel, sometimes kind Hudson and Halls, and more.

It's hard to reduce legendary band Split Enz down to a single sound or image. Soon after forming in 1973, they began dressing like oddball circus performers, and their music straddled folk, vaudeville and art rock. Later the songs got shorter, poppier and — some say —better, and the visuals were toned down...but you could never accuse the Enz of looking biege. With Split Enz co-founder Tim Finn turning 65 in June 2017, this collection looks back at one of Aotearoa's most successful and eclectic bands. Writer Michael Higgins unravels the evolution of the Enz here.

Celebrate iconic Māori television, film and music with this collection, in time for Māori New Year. Watch everything from haka to hip hop, Billy T to the birth of Māori Television. Two backgrounders by former TVNZ Head of Māori Programming Whai Ngata (Koha, Marae) look at Matariki, and the history of Māori programming on New Zealand television.   

This “best of” episode from Māori TV’s long-running te reo food show revisits stories that presenter Peter Peeti has shot throughout the North Island. It‘s a celebration of food harvested from the land, rivers and sea, ranging from stingrays on the East Coast and the Tūhoe Wild Food Festival at Waimana, to goat hunting in Taranaki and fishing on Parengarenga Harbour. Peeti’s korero with the people of the land is equally important, and his giggle is worthy of Billy T. Recipes include mussel fritters, baked hapuka, venison casserole and curried snapper.

In this series Chef Peta Mathias (Taste New Zealand) sets off on a culinary journey around the globe - without even having to leave New Zealand. In A Taste of Home Peta meets up with fellow foodies who have settled in Godzone from overseas, and asks them to share their favourite tastes of home. Viewers get to choose from Moroccan stuffed dates, Russian cabaret, bean-filled Brazilian feijoada and 'Pokarekare Ana', sung in Korean. The series devotes one episode each to food from France, India, Russia, Korea, Brazil, North Africa, and the Middle East.

When Frank Sanft’s older brother was killed early in World War ll, it only intensified Frank’s determination to serve. Joining the Royal Navy, he was eventually assigned to Operation PLUTO, which involved laying an undersea fuel pipeline between the UK and Cherbourg (vital in keeping Allied vehicles moving, directly after the invasion of France). Frank laughs now at a close call with a sniper ashore in France. Serving in the Pacific, he was there after Singapore’s notorious Changi PoW camp was liberated.  In 2017 Sanft was awarded a prestigious French Legion of Honour. 

London-born Graham Kerr’s first appearance on NZ telly was in 1960 as an Air Force catering adviser. The RNZAF omelette demonstration was the beginning of a career that would see Kerr become an internationally pioneering TV chef, liberally mixing personality — a patient, slightly naughty uncle, always ready with a risqué quip — and butter, cream or wine-soaked recipes. The Graham Kerr Show was the last series he made in NZ before galloping off overseas, and his worldly sophistication introduced Kiwis to horizons beyond the confines of their own insular cuisine.