New Zealand 'Kitchen Quarantine' by Massimo Bottura

New Zealand's premium food and wine was on display with renowned Italian chef Massimo Bottura preparing four mouth-watering recipes on his 'Kitchen Quarantine' Instagram TV series. Bottura is one of the world's top chefs and chef patron of three-Michelin-star restaurant Osteria Francescana - ranked first in the World's Best Restaurants list in 2016 and 2018. He is well-known around the world via the Netflix series Chef's Table and has restaurants in the USA and Dubai.

With Italy in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bottura has been delighting his some 1.3 million Instagram followers (@massimobottura) with 'Kitchen Quarantine' with his family from his home in Modena, Italy. On the 16th of May, it was New Zealand's turn.

Bottura created Teriyaki Ōra King Salmon with Manuka Health manuka honey, Roast Te Mana Lamb rack, Zespri Green Kiwifruit salsa and Zespri SunGold Pico de Gallo which was enjoyed with Marisco's King Series Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

"When you cook with these products, it's like when you go and get Parmigiano-Reggiano, the best parmigiano, or when you pick balsamic vinegar from the barrel that's won a gold medal. It's the same. A chef is so excited when he has this kind of product in his hands," said Bottura.

The session was introduced by Prime Minsiter Jacinda Ardern and Bottura was joined live by chef Monica Galletti, chef proprietor of Mere in London and a judge on BBCs' MasterChef: The Professionals who joined the session live from London with New Zealand lamb on the barbecue in her garden.

New Zealand food and beverage enjoys a strong international reputation built on quality, environmental consciousness and innovation. Our natural environment, climate, location and clean air make us ideal for almost every kind of food production, from horticulture and cropping to seafood and farming. We enjoy an enviable position in consumers sentiment in many markets and this play a role in our COVID-19 economic recovery.

NZTE sees a lot of opportunity going forward but it won't be without its challenges as countries around the world move through different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. General Manager Customers, Lisa Thompson pointed to constraints on freight and the challenges in the food service industry.

"Our premium food and beverage products are often enjoyed through restaurants and other outlets in the food service sector and obviously this is an industry that will continue to be disrupted as countries move through their various responses to the COVID-19 pandemic," she says

"Air freight is the key logistical channel for many of these exporters and there are some heavy constraints in air freight, including increased prices which we hope to see stabilise, but we certainly aren't expecting them to return to pre COVID-19 rates."

Whilst there are challenges, Lisa is optimistic that with a mix a perseverance and good old-fashioned kiwi ingenuity there is a way through.

"New Zealand's F&B sector has a strong base built on kaitiakitanga – the care of people, place and planet, and our role as guardians of the land. Any additional focus on quality, safety and natural ingredients can only be a good thing for us. Couple that with the fantastic innovators we have in the sector and I think there is a way through the current challenges," she said

Food and beverage are often promoted through trade shows, food shows and other initiatives that involve people tasting the product. COVID-19 has resulted in most trade events being postponed or cancelled and restrictions in many countries mean that events and restaurant takeovers are not a possibility. Leveraging digital and social media and AR/VR platforms are key.

"NZTE was able to support these exporters by redirecting resources that were originally going to a trade event into the Kitchen Quarantine initiative. The three videos featuring New Zealand products have had over 659,000 views and 760 comments.

"COVID-19 has accelerated the importance of digital commerce and so we are ramping up our work in that area to help New Zealand exporters with enablement," said Lisa.

You can find the recipes and watch the videos for the New Zealand Kitchen Quarantine here, and check out a few photos from the show below.