Hei Matau (Fish Hook) Cookie
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$4.00
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Introducing Our 30-40 grms Kuki Reka Kani Cookies!
Order now to enjoy these special treats and bring uniquely shaped cookies into your home. Honour the Māori culture with these New Zealand made, Kaumātua inspired creations.
For every Kuki Reka Kani Cookie purchase, 20% of the profit will be contributed to Rauawaawa Kaumātua Charitable Trust.
Note: We only sell the delicious cookies made from these unique cutters. Want the cutters themselves? Grab your own set here: Kuki Reka Kani Cookie Cutters.
Hei Matau (Fish Hook)
Māori legend is embodied in the design, with the belief that the North Island of Aotearoa was once a large fish pulled from the ocean floor by Māui with a fish hook made from his grandmother's jaw bone.
Māori legend says that the shape of Hawkes Bay is that of Hei Matau, which caught in the side of the fish, Te Ika a Maui, the North Island.
The Hei Matau symbolises a strong connection to the ocean and also to Tangaroa, God of the Sea. It is a taonga (cultural treasure) and represents not only the land but also fertility, prosperity and safe travels over water.
Kuki Reka Kani: Kaumātua Inspired Cookie Cutter
The Kuki Reka Kani are unique cookie cutters, inspired, developed and named by our lovely Kaumātua at Rauawaawa Kaumātua Charitable Trust. The cutters were initiated to help Kaumātua with dementia, to engage in cooking therapy that promoted Te Ao Māori, cultural heritage, and whakapapa in a social and fun way. Cooking therapy stimulates smell, taste and touch senses in dementia patients which can bring back memories from decades ago.
Several hui were held with groups of Kaumātua to help identify the most appropriate Māori designs for use in kai. The chefs at Rauawaawa helped shape the development of the designs to ensure the cutters worked easily with people from Kaumātua engaged in cooking therapy, tamariki in schools, rangatahi in home economics classes, home cooks and their whānau and professional chefs.
The cutters are designed to cut through the dough and leave a pattern imprinted on the dough in one easy push. This makes them gentle on both elderly hands as well as providing a large grip for children to hold. The patterns reflect the look of a chiseled whakairo rākau (wood carving), an important aspect in Māori culture.
