5 Mar 2012

Kaimoana and kapa haka rich mix for festival

6:35 am on 5 March 2012

The bounty of kaimoana around the shores of the South Island is being credited with helping to bring the biggest Maori performing arts show to Christchurch.

They city recently won a bid to host Te Matatini National Festival in 2015 - a major showcase of kapa haka.

Waitaha Cultural Council is organising the the event, which will be held in Hagley Park.

Deputy chairperson Rangimarie Parata-Takurua says they'll start at the heart, and then tempt visitors through their puku.

She says there are a lot of food supplies in the South Island - Maori kai that's not readily available in the North Island, such as mutton birds, Bluff oysters, crayfish, and tuna, or eel.

Ms Parata-Takurua says all of the seafood makes people salivate up north.