More than 20 years in the making, this anthology of New Zealand food poetry comprises 288 poems by 154 poets, spanning the period 1863-1998. The earliest poem was written at sea and nailed to the mast of immigrant ship Zealandia while she was en route to our shores, beginning: “There was a Leg of Mutton, prepared for grub one day, but some thieving glutton with it he ran away.”

The format is based rather ingeniously on the Edmonds Cookery Book, with chapters like “scones, gems and pikelets”, “salads and dressings” and the like featuring poems that relate to those food genres. The “each other” chapter is an addition that hasn’t featured in any edition of Edmonds I’ve seen, thankfully, containing cannabalistic poems by the likes of James K Baxter, Bill Manhire and Witi Ihimaera. Interspersed with a nice selection of old images, Poems from the Pantry is a wonderful piece of New Zealand social history as well as a great read. It’s available at poemspantry.wixsite.com/foodpoetry-nz