That is the belief behind a new cookbook released as part of Southland Heritage Month.
Born out of the ‘‘Heirloom’’ exhibition at He Waka Tuia in 2025, the Preserved cookbook — a collaboration between Louise Evans, the creator of local food enthusiast favourite Wee Magazine, and the team at He Waka Tuia — was launched as a culmination of this year’s Heritage Month celebrations at the Invercargill gallery last week.
He Waka Tuia manager Sarah Brown said in a statement the project had garnered a wide-ranging response from the community.
‘‘The idea of food as heritage — recipes being handed down from one generation to another, on battered pieces of scrap paper or simply from lived memory and experience — really resonated with people,’’ she said.
Responses ranged from chutneys beloved by families across generations to Russian desserts that transcended families immigrating to the deep South, handwritten anonymous submissions, and her mother’s own ambrosia, she said.
‘‘Every contribution clearly holds so much meaning and nostalgia from the people who took part, and the end result is a really poignant reflection of our community: our people, our places and our stories.’’
The project brought together food, storytelling and artefacts from across Murihiku, with recipes sitting alongside oral histories, photographs and objects that people had held on to for decades.
Ms Evans said Preserved was an attempt to capture small, everyday pieces of local food culture before they disappeared.
The project was borne out of a curiosity about the quiet lives and stories that sat behind the food we made and shared.
‘‘If you want to understand a region, you should look inside its freezers and cupboards. Preserved is, in a way, a small archive of exactly that.
‘‘The things we think of as completely ordinary may turn out to be the most interesting record we have of who we were,’’ she said.
Preserved has been made possible through the digitisation of local works, the creation of new pieces, and the retelling of histories that might otherwise remain tucked away in kitchens and family cupboards.
‘‘If you’ve ever read Wee Magazine, Preserved will feel familiar.
‘‘It’s the same curiosity, just turned inward — into homes, histories and the things people choose to keep.’’
Both publication were about noticing the stories that sit quietly in the region and giving them the space to be seen, she said.
‘‘Wee Magazine celebrates what’s happening now in our food culture.
‘‘Preserved looks at what’s been carried through, the habits, recipes and objects that have shaped how we eat over time.
‘‘Through Wee Magazine and now Preserved, I’m building a body of work that captures Southland’s food culture as it actually exists not just what’s served, but what’s kept, shared and remembered.’’
Ms Evans will launch the inaugural Wee Fest, running in the city from April 9-12.
‘‘If Preserved is about capturing the stories we’ve inherited, Wee Fest is about experiencing them in real time, meeting the people, tasting the food, and being part of it as it happens.’’
Preserved is available to the community free of charge at He Waka Tuia.
