New Zealand Meat Pie

The New Zealand pie is a specific object: individual, hand-sized, short pastry base with puff on top, filled with mince, steak and cheese, mince and cheese, bacon and egg, or one of a dozen other standards, and eaten out of a paper bag without cutlery. It is closer to a Cornish pasty in social function than to a British pie - fuel, bought on the way somewhere. What lifts it above ordinary takeaway is the Bakels Supreme Pie Awards, run since 1997, which judge thousands of entries across categories each year; a winning bakery puts the sign in the window and sells out for months afterwards, and small-town bakeries have been made by it. The gap between a good pie and a bad one is wide, and the reliable local knowledge is that the best ones come from small independent bakeries rather than chains or servos.

What you actually see

• The form - hand-sized, short base and puff lid, eaten from a bag.
• The standard fillings - mince, steak and cheese, bacon and egg.
• The pie awards - judged since 1997, and taken seriously.
• The bakeries - small independents, where the good ones are.

When to go

Any time. Bakeries sell out of the popular fillings by early afternoon, so mornings are better. Awards results come out mid-year and winners get busy.

Honest expectations

Quality varies enormously - a service-station pie and an award-winning bakery pie are different foods. They are hot enough to burn; the filling holds heat. Not health food by any measure.

Nearby

Independent bakeries in every town; award winners are listed publicly each year.