Data gathered by meal kit provider HelloFresh, celebrating one year in New Zealand, shows surprising differences in taste preferences across regions.
Auckland's favourite dish is the Korean Beef Tacos with Speedy Pickled Onion, a Mexican-Korean fusion that locals just can't get enough of.
In Hamilton, Whangarei and New Plymouth, it's the Teriyaki-Glazed Pork Rissoles with Garlic Rice and Creamy Japanese Slaw, a new twist on the humble rissole that has become one of the all time favourites.
For Wellington, Tauranga and Palmerston North it's Portugese-Style Chicken with Potato Wedges and Salad that's been getting all the attention.
HelloFresh Accredited Dietitian and Head of Culinary, Hannah Gilbert says: "It's always interesting for us to see the favourite dishes from the different regions, as sometimes they are not what you might normally expect to be nominated as customer favourites."
"What we're finding is that HelloFresh customers are really enjoying the inspiration and discovering new cuisines, flavours and recipes they may not have cooked for themselves before."
As more customers taste and rate the recipes, HelloFresh uses this feedback to improve and create new recipes.
"We even enlist the help of Kiwi home cooks to triple-test each recipe before it goes into our boxes. This feedback loop ensures we get a better understanding of what Kiwis are enjoying, and we can continue to develop new recipes which we hope will become household favourites.
"By carefully listening to our Kiwi customers we're able to determine which ingredients and food combinations are the most liked and the ones that aren't.
Having this level of data and information helps to ensure that we can create recipes for each of our plans (Classic, Veggie and Family) that everyone will love. With our Family recipes, we put a lot of effort into ensuring even the fussiest of eaters are well catered for" she says.
Stacey Morrison and Mike Puru from The Hits have been putting HelloFresh to the test with 'Choose-Day Tuesdays' on their afternoon drive time show. Every week, Stacey and Mike have been whipping up a HelloFresh meal on-air, in the studio to find out just how easy and delicious it is.
Here's what they had to say:
"Mike and I have been doing HelloFresh Choose-Day Tuesday on The Hits for the last four weeks now and are absolutely loving it," says Stacey. "Having all the ingredients ready to go is amazing and the quality of the food is fantastic."
"Going from Lamb, Mint and Feta Burgers one night to a Tofu Taco the next is incredible, not to mention it's been a hit at home as well with my husband and kids!"
Mike says: "I am still blown away by both how delicious HelloFresh and how simple the whole process is. Since using HelloFresh we have learnt how to make so many new recipes and try all sorts of new cuisines," he says.
"So many Kiwis' days are filled with work, family, exercise, chores and more – finding time to pick out dinners for the week is hard. Now, we've seen with HelloFresh you can come home to a delicious range of meals packed full of fresh meat and veggies, or even full vegetarian and whip up something in 30 minutes that might normally take about three hours."