Wild Kiwi food, no foreign beers, no foreign wines: NZICC menu among world’s most patriotic

Sunday, 8 February 2026

Tim Barnett is often to be found in the underwater realm off Nelson, spearfishing for snapper, kingfish, banded wrasse, and butterfish.

Sometimes it’s like being in paradise for Barnett, whose five-year campaign to legalise commercial spearfishing resulted in a law change last year.

But sometimes it’s cold, windy and not for the faint-hearted, even for the founder of the Ocean Speared company.

“It can be the best job in the world and it can be the worst job in the world,” says Barnett, who is one of the premium Kiwi food and drinks suppliers to the soon-to-open New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) in Auckland.

SkyCity’s NZICC opens next week after the completion of a rebuild following a calamitous 2019 fire that gutted the then nearly-completed conference centre, setting back the plan to put New Zealand on the international conference industry map.

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At a glitzy menu preview at the NZICC on Tuesday for journalists and food critics, Barnett’s Ocean Speared sashimi-quality Kingfish was on menu, coupled with pickled fennel, wasabi peas and ponzu sauce.

“This is huge kudos for us,” Barnett says.

“It's very satisfying knowing that the hard work we've put in, this is kind of a reward. The reputation that we've built over the last number of years is coming forth now. We're being seen as the top-tier seafood producer in New Zealand,” Barnett said.

NZICC’s conference menu, created by Michelin-starred chef Rob Cullen, is making a big play on the themes of sustainability, accessibility and local producers.

It is a menu only a select few get to see: professional conference organisers (referred to in the conference industry as PCOs).

International conventions are asked to come an awfully long way to hold their events in Auckland, and cuisine with an exclusively New Zealand provenance is a way of differentiating NZICC.

NZICC general manager Prue Daly said the business felt a duty to showcase New Zealand’s suppliers.

“Aotearoa New Zealand is renowned for its fresh, high quality produce, and today's menu is designed to celebrate the very best of local seasonal ingredients, while telling the stories of our incredible partners,” she said to the gathered foodies.

The menu, like the NZICC building, was designed to create connection, and a really strong sense of place, grounded in the landscapes, the people, and the values of New Zealand, she said.

Cullen said food had always been about connection.

“At the NZICC, a sense of place comes not only from the ingredients themselves, but from the relationships that sit behind them,” he said.

Daly said NZICC embraced an environmentally-responsible farm to table philosophy, and worked closely with local farmers, fishers, growers and artisans so every dish was “ethical, traceable, and of the highest quality”.

Barnett acknowledges some might have strong feelings about spearfishing, but he says it is the most sustainable form of commercial fishing, with zero by-catch.

But it is a high cost endeavour, the former UK champion spearfisherman says, and Ocean Speared needs to sell its catches, which it does to order, at a premium price.

“It's quite small volumes compared to the majority of your fishing fleet in New Zealand, but we command a high price so it kind of works,” Barnett says.

Daly said it was common for convention centres overseas to have fairly standard menus based around a standard three options of beef, chicken and fish.

NZICC was taking a more interesting, and distinctive approach, including strong flavours from wild food, including venison. There had also been a choice to keep ingredients that were high on the allergen list like nuts and dairy off the menu, though that would be varied for the likes of dairy conventions.

Daly said 20% to 30% of people had dietary restrictions.

It was also a priority to have high quality vegan dishes on the menu, she said.

But though ethics is among the concerns for NZICC, food is complex, and sometimes it is difficult to avoid controversy.

For example, also on the NZICC menu for tasting was WithWild Venison Chorizo.

WithWild sources its venison from wild wapiti hunted in Fiordland. Like Ocean Speared’s catch, it’s carefully regulated to ensure safety of the meat supplied.

There’s jobs, and good-tasting meat to be had from the wapiti herd, which looks set to be designated the country’s first Herd of Special Interest.

Hunting and Fishing Minister James Meager said last year that the designation for wapiti, and also sika deer in the central North Island Kaimanawa and Kaweka forest parks and Kaweka Conservation Area, would allow hunter-led conservation groups to sustainably manage herd numbers and create opportunities to drive economic growth.

But the present of wapiti in Fiordland is not a simple issue.

It’s a North American elk species, and its browsing has an impact on native plant species.

Forest and Bird calls wapiti “vacuum cleaners of vegetation”, saying they have caused severe damage in some parts. It says wapiti herd management was “akin to farming in the national park”.

The original wapiti released in New Zealand were gifted by US President Theodore Roosevelt and were released in George Sound, Fiordland, in 1905.

But Forest and Bird is not seeking to have wapiti eradicated. It has “paused” a legal challenge to the way they are currently managed, and is in talks with the Department of Conservation to “find a lawful way to manage the wapiti population that is consistent with protecting the biodiversity values in Te Wāhipounamu.”

WithWild’s general manager Adrian Bosher attended NZICC’s menu tasting.

He said WithWild stays out of the politics of wapiti, leaving it to the government and the Fiordland Wapiti Foundation, which manages the wapiti herd in agreement with DOC, a herd which now seems on track to be named the country’s first Herd of Special Interest.

But the primary aim of WithWild’s partnerships was to deliver improved conservation in areas that have introduced species that require management to reduce their impact on our native flora and fauna.

It’s not only the food on the NZICC’s convention menu that’s local.

Coca Cola isn’t on the menu. All the soft drinks are New Zealand brands. The cola delegates are offered is Karma Cola.

Similarly, all the wines, including wines from Te Mata, the No. 1 Family Estate, and Fromm, and all the beers are New Zealand premium brands.

NZICC director of operations Ian Love says the wine list would be considered entirely premium at most other conference venues.