High hopes for Pacific cuisine

Pacific Island cuisine is cementing its place in the culinary world with two nominations for work by chef, author and presenter Robert Oliver announced recently.

Robert's Real Pasifik television series, produced by Zoomslide, has been selected as a finalist at the 'New York Festivals World’s Best TV & Films' awards. 

The series played on TVNZ at the end of last year, and will be playing throughout the Pacific in the coming months. The show follows Robert as he visits chefs around the Pacific, learning about the indigenous ingredients they have and showing them creative ways of incorporating those ingredients into their own dishes. The Awards will take place in Las Vegas in early April.

Robert's literary work has also been recognised with his latest book Mea’ai Samoa nominated for the title of Best In The World in the 'Best TV Chef' category at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, to be held in Beijing in May. Robert's previous book. Me'a Kai won 'Best Cookbook in the World' at the 2010 awards. 

He says his aim with the books and television series is to create a sense of pride in Pacific cuisine for locals, particularly chefs, and in doing so help local food find its place in tourism, the major industry for the Pacific Islands. It is Robert's hope that creating demand for Pacific Island cuisine in this way will have a positive economic impact by strengthening the islands' agricultural sectors. 

For more about Robert's work visit www.realpasifik.com or www.robertoliveronline.com