Angelo Georgalli, aka the Game Chef, has created a cookbook for Kiwi hunters and fishers.
The Fish + Game Cookbook includes recipes like pūkeko potato-top pie and black swan schnitzel burgers.
Pukeko and black swans are both on NZ's game bird list, plentiful and surprisingly delicious, Angelo tells Kathryn Ryan.
- Recipe: Pūkeko Potato-Top Pie
Angelo tells Kathryn Ryan he first "got the bug" for hunting at 12 when a friend invited him on a family hunting trip and he shot his first partridge and hare.
Angelo father's, who was a chef, made a meal with his son's kill.
"He was so excited to see I went out hunting and bought some game home."
Angelo says he had a tough upbringing in London with his Greek refugee parents but lived near a large park where he spent a lot of time.
At the age of eight, he started fishing in its lake with a bamboo stick.
"I used to always be in there amongst it all, turning over rocks and fishing the creek with little nets and just observing and looking… that was my escape, really."
At 14, Angelo left school to work with his uncle who owned a Greek deli and started to become a foodie.
When going on a hunt now, he takes a backpack with a cooking stove, small pots, a hand-mincer and spices such as cumin, smoked paprika, pepper, salt and lemon pepper.
Angelo Georgalli is now on a book tour, visiting fishing and hunting stores in 23 towns and cities.
