Ngā Kaiārahi

Chef Joe (Hamuera Orupe McLeod)

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou i runga i te kaupapa nei.

I have been associated with the hospitality services industry since 1973. I have a passion for enhancing, preserving and promoting our traditional indigenous culinary culture.

My passion and research in the culinary Māori cuisine philosophy has been with me since 1964, learned to my generation by our grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts, cousins and fellow villagers — with favourite uncle Te Karo Tītoko, who was adamant we worked and learned together the arts and crafts of the forests.

We were, in my opinion, privileged to be schooled in the practice of respect at an early age — our culture, heritage, close association with nature, but more importantly the customary hospitality you experience on the marae.

Our right to collect flora, fauna, wildlife and seafood for whānau, hapū and iwi consumption has changed, with restrictions now placed far across the forager gathering process our village and marae leaders once held.

Adrian McVeigh

Ko Ngāti Hine te hapū
Ko Ngātokimatawhaorua te waka
Ko Waiōmio te awa
Ko Kopa te whānau
Ko Adrian McVeigh tōku ingoa.

Cooking for me started on leaving home in 1986, and I have a deep appreciation for the hospitality industry having owned a restaurant, nightclubs, a cafe, and catered to many through my culinary journey. I feel privileged to be able to learn alongside Chef Joe and our small team as we travel the motu to marae and share Mātauranga Kai Māori with those who wish to learn.

As a child of the forgotten whakapapa adoption policy of the 60s and 70s, I grew up disconnected from all things Māori. As I got older, married into a Māori family and had children of my own, I felt the pull to start the journey of self discovery. Through this process of reconnection I realised my journey would be lifelong, so my daughters' path to connection would be an easier one.

My wife and I developed the Tangata Whenua Network to support our people traversing the many hurdles in the journey of their Māoritanga. It is our aspiration to reconnect our people to whenua, whakapapa, kaupapa and te ao Māori.

Asher Regan

Asher Regan joined E Kai Māori in 2023 as book editor and wānanga assistant, working alongside Chef Joe while completing a PhD in Public Health at Massey University — researching how Māori chefs are shaping the future of food in Aotearoa, and what that means for wellbeing.

He trained first as a chef, before moving into nutrition science and completing a Master of Science in Human Nutrition at the University of Otago. In the years since, his work has spanned national nutrition policy and food service — including more than a decade with the National Heart Foundation — bringing a public health lens to the kaupapa alongside the culinary and cultural knowledge Joe and Adrian carry.

After two years working alongside the kaupapa, Asher became the third partner in E Kai Māori.