The influencers have taken over Italy. In 2022 it seemed like every very online person was posting about the glittering sea and culinary bounties from Sicily, Puglia, and the Amalfi Coast. Not so much in Sardinia. Though hungry travelers have been fed snippets of the island from TV travel hosts like Stanley Tucci and social media accounts like the Pasta Grannies, the island remains resolutely rural, with spectacular hiking trails, pre-Roman Nuragic archeological sites, and small museums showcasing island crafts. While the extravagantly rich hole up in all-inclusive hotels in Costa Smeralda, cleverer travelers head for Cagliari, where young chefs are eager to celebrate local flavors with techniques learned abroad. Or they venture across the island in search of generational family restaurants and working farms, where they can dine on ornate handmade pasta, spit-roasted suckling pig, powerful bottarga, sweets spiked with wine must, and a dizzying variety of salted sheep’s milk cheeses. — Katie Parla
Map: The 16 Essential Sardinia Restaurants
The time capsule serving ancient Italian food
Durum wheat grows all over the island and locals have found ways to spin it into pastas of all shapes, sizes, and colors, from saffron-tinted malloreddus in Capoterra to sculptural culurgiones in Ogliastra. Here are a few varieties to keep an eye out for. — KP
Called fregola in Italian, this ancient form of dried pasta is made all over the island and resembles pearl couscous.
Fregula
These long tubes are formed around a ferretto (straight, thin piece of iron).
Maccarones de Busa
Intertwined rings of pasta form lorighittas, typical of the tiny village of Morgongiori.
Lorighittas
Made in and around the city of Nuoro for celebrations of San Francesco, su filindeu (“threads of God”) is formed from layers of dough pulled into fine strands.
Su filindeu
Also known as gnocchetti sardi, malloreddus are bits of pasta dragged over a ridged surface, like a woven basket, to create textured cavatelli-like pieces.
Malloreddus
These plump pasta dumplings from Ogliastra are stuffed with mashed potatoes, garlic, and cheese, then pinched closed in a pattern that resembles a stalk of grain.
Culurgiones
This tight, ridged corkscrew shape is made around Usini in northwestern Sardinia.
Andarinos
The coastal dining scene celebrating its Māori roots
New Zealand’s fast-and-firm pandemic lockdown impacted the country far beyond healthcare. The Māori community has long pushed residents to recognize and return to the islands’ roots, including the everyday use of te reo Māori (the Māori language) by both Māori and non-Māori (a group sometimes called Pākehā). Since 2020 that long-overdue culture shift has only accelerated, and — though the process is very much ongoing — restaurants have played a unique part, restoring foodways that were nearly lost and using the original names for local ingredients in place of English counterparts. The pandemic also briefly disrupted the nation’s agricultural trade, inspiring renewed interest among local chefs in working with crops historically grown for export. Returning visitors (some coming by Air New Zealand’s new nonstop flight from JFK) will find a modern Aotearoa cuisine utilizing endemic ingredients and Indigenous techniques that all feels distinctly of the moment. — Hillary Eaton
Map: The 38 Essential Tāmaki Makaurau Restaurants
Many restaurants in Tāmaki Makaurau refer to ingredients by their names in te reo Māori, the language of the Indigenous Māori peoples. Here are a few common types of kai (food) and other terms you’ll see on menus and hear at restaurants around town.
Urchin
Sweet
potato
Freshwater crayfish
Abalone
Eel
Fish
Hello! Cheers!
Authority, influence
Family
Tribe
Seafood
