Whether it’s a mince and cheese pie from the dairy down the road or a traditional Hāngī at his local marae, for chef and recipe creator Pairama Wright (Ngā Ruahine, Te Āti Awa, Kāti Māmoe), food is so much more than the satisfaction of a full belly.
Raised by two Māori parents and a Nanny fluent in Te Reo, it would be easy to assume Wright grew up feeling deeply connected to his culture. But looking back, he remembers it differently. “Sitting in a classroom that was 99% white, and living in a town where culture was brushed under the rug, meant that I never saw being Māori as a part of who I was,” he reflects.
It was only later in his teenage years that he began to dig a little deeper. An on-the-fly commitment to “doing a bit more”, quickly evolved into years of Māori language study and a journey of self-discovery.
Courageous Creative Pairama Wright On Nostalgic Eats And Finding Connection Through Kai
FEATURE
My mouth is watering at the thought of watching mum spoon the sugar into the steaming rice with her all-purpose trusty soup spoon. No fancy dishes. No fancy ingredients. Just milk, rice, sugar and aroha. Gosh, it was good.
To join Wright in recreating nostalgic noms and finding connection through food, pick up a fresh bottle of a2 Milk™ by Anchor™ and some of your favourite Kiwi pantry staples and hit the family kitchen.
Editor’s note: This article is sponsored by a2 Milk™ by Anchor™ and proudly endorsed by The Urban List. To find out more about who we work with and why read our editorial policy here.
Quick to bond over the joys of growing up in Aotearoa, our Sydney-based Kiwi Maisie Gray sat down with infectious personality Pairama Wright, to chat about how he found connection to his Māori heritage through food, and the magic of a one-tin traybake.
After years of pursuing a career in teaching and cultural advisory, the self-styled "erratic creative” went on to star in the TVNZ hit show Hui Hoppers, and start his own clothing brand—Done By Pai.
Everything I do and everything I have achieved to date has all been guided by the unknown of my upbringing.
Today, he sees the act of preparing and enjoying “choice as kai” as a way to connect and care for those around him.
One quick scroll of his Instagram profile makes it abundantly clear that for him, food is where the heart is. From his biscuit-tin staple condensed milk cookies or Pai-style mince on toast, there’s a common thread of nostalgia running through every recipe.
“There’s something about recreating dishes from my childhood that allows me to feel the most intense connection to both who I was as a young tamaiti and who I am today,” he says.
When asked if he could align this feeling to a particular dish, it’s his mum’s roasting tray of rice pudding that holds the key to childhood memories.
“Nothing will ever beat mum's roasting-tray rice pudding and the joy of coming home after rugby to see the rice laid out on the bench.”
“But I think I’ve managed to get as close as I can using a2 Milk™ by Anchor™. The milk's rich and creamy texture reminds me of the special glass bottles of milk that were always a non-negotiable in our family fridge.”
Flicking further through the pages of his mum’s ripped and stained Edmonds recipe book, almost every nostalgic dish Wright can remember was served in the same disposable roasting tray.
The memory of this silver kitchen staple being pulled from the oven and the family gathering around the table to enjoy what lay within is one of his fondest.
For Māori, the essence of our key value of manaakitanga is about coming together around kai. Some people call it hospitality, but I call it the ability to extend love. Any Māori will tell you that the best way to show manaakitanga is to feed someone. Food is the best way we can show the visitors who enter our space that they are welcome.
When a visitor comes to my house, I need to shove a biscuit in their mouth. Even if they're not hungry, I just shove something in there to make them feel like they belong.
This, and the honest, light-hearted content he posts online, proves cooking can be a powerful outlet to share meaningful moments with your loved ones.
by Maisie Gray
19 May 2025
Studying Te Reo Māori completely changed my life.
I started to realise that it was more than a language and, instead, a way to understand who I was and where I came from.
“If anything, it left me with this burning desire to make sure no other young Māori grows up as disconnected as I was,” he says.
Vulnerably opening up about his relationship with diet culture, it’s only in the last six months that Wright has overcome his battles with a food-obsessive mindset and feelings of guilt after eating even a single rice cracker.
For Wright, he found the answer through manaakitanga—realising there’s so much more to who we are as humans than how we look.
“Through both my struggles with feeling disconnected and my battles with how I’ve viewed food in the past, I’m so proud of where I am today. Kai to me now is all about how I can take the learnings of my mum and nannies before me and use them to make others feel like they’re worthy.”
How I’ve viewed food and eating at points has been horrible. And to be honest, I don't know what to call it because I never sought help.
For Wright, working and living within our calorie-obsessed and ‘what I eat in a day’ online world has meant that, like many others, his relationship with food hasn’t always been linear.
5/5
3/5
2/5
1/5
4/5
by Maisie Gray
19 May 2025
Courageous Creative Pairama Wright On Nostalgic Eats And Finding Connection Through Kai
FEATURE
Editor’s note: To read our editorial policy, click here. This article is sponsored by Revlon and proudly endorsed by The Urban List.
To help you on your journey to finding your inner-outer glow, shop Wallace's favourite glow-getting product and the rest of Revlon’s Illuminance Range here.