Do you have the secret to the best pizza in the land? The Fonterra Foodservices Global Pizza Challenge has arrived in New Zealand to find our best pizza maker and the secrets behind their recipes.
Event sponsor Fonterra Foodservices is inviting Kiwi chefs to flex their culinary muscles and compete in the global challenge. This is the first year New Zealand has participated in the worldwide competition. 

This Auckland Anniversary Weekend – January 29-31 celebrate the city’s birthday in style by joining 30,000 other seafood lovers at Te Wero Island in the Auckland Viaduct.
New Zealand’s largest seafood restaurant is back for its fifth fun-filled year. Now the largest seafood festival in New Zealand, it is the main event during Auckland’s Anniversary Weekend celebrations and this year you’ll find it at a fantastic new venue in the heart of the BIG little city - Te Wero Island in Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour.

Understanding what innovation is in the culinary world is a complex and multi-dimensional task, according to SkyCity Auckland director of kitchens Mark Wylie.
In culinary terms, Wylie believes innovation involves taking a product and extending it beyond what would be its normal accepted usage.

The winner of the inaugural NZ Riesling Challenge has been announced with top honours going to Matt Donaldson from the Pegasus Bay winery. The competition, launched by award-winning Mud House wines, saw 12 winemakers selected to handcraft a Riesling using fruit picked from the same vineyard at the same time in 2010.

Nestlé New Zealand has donated $10,000 to the Pike River Disaster Relief Fund. Corporate services manager of Nestlé NZ Maurice Gunnell says the contribution is a practical way for the company to offer their support to the people of Greymouth.

Award-winning beer Moa has sent a special delivery of 2,000 bottles – plastic, not glass - to Scott Base to help get the icemen through the southern summer when the temperature can reach a balmy -3C. Three types of the Marlborough-brewed beer were loaded onto a ship leaving Christchurch for Antarctica on January 11.

A bug crawling out of an espresso machine may not seem like a major issue unless you are the person about to drink the coffee made straight after it. A child slipping on a toilet floor and hitting their head, again, might seem minor unless they have really hurt themselves and you have to deal with it. These are just two examples of things that can go wrong in your business. How you deal with them will be based on whether you have the knowledge and skills to action the right response or whether inexperience will lead to further risk.

By JESMA MAGILL

With New Zealanders among the highest users of debit and credit cards in the world, accepting card payments is critical. And improving payment security is the driver for many current technology changes, according to EFTPOS New Zealand’s product and marketing manager, Alan Sharpe.
The introduction of ‘chip’ cards in New Zealand is the most significant development. “It’s a big investment but increased security is a major benefit for businesses and card users. We’re in transition as some terminals accept chip cards and some still need to be ‘swiped’, but with all terminals having to be upgraded by June 1, 2011 and major banks rolling out chip cards, they’ll soon be the norm.”

Purebread Organic and David Wright - secretary of the BioDynamic Farming and Gardening Association - have been named by Organics Aotearoa New Zealand (OANZ) as the winners of 2010's Organic Awards.

These awards, proudly sponsored by ZESPRI International, recognise the outstanding contribution made by the recipients. OANZ executive chair, Derek Broadmore says that the awards celebrate two of the organic sector's most well-regarded leaders.

By KATHRYN STEANE

Walking into The Cake Stall is like taking a step back in time. Retro cake tins and other baking paraphenalia form an impressive display against the far wall, which is draped with pretty vintage paper, while antique furniture and a traditional blackboard showcasing chalk artwork also add to the experience.
However, it’s the food, not the décor, which provides a real taste of the past – think melting moments, lamingtons and jam drops. Classic treats like these are the specialty of this boutique bakery/café in Royal Oak, Auckland and the reason for its motto, ‘just like grandma used to make.’

By ELOISE GIBSON

As any New Zealand traveller will tell you, if you walk into a shop in the United States and ask for a coffee, you won’t be served an espresso.

Filter brews – a concoction made by pouring water over ground coffee beans inside a filter and waiting until the liquid drips through – are North Americans’ favourite kind of coffee, whether they are sipping it at a café, service station or somebody’s home.

North Port Events has won Best New Zealand Show for the third year running at the Exhibition and Event Association of Australasia’s (EEAA) 2010 Awards for Excellence – this time for its newest show, Fine Food New Zealand.
Fine Food New Zealand also picked up the award for Best New Show at the gala industry event held in the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

A muggy start to a day last December, and the morning crew at The Edge radio station virtually stopped their listeners in their tracks. Within a very short timeframe, texts, phone calls and emails were flooding into the station as everyone tried to force the early release of what the morning crew described as “an announcement of national importance”.

New Zealand will showcase its clean, green image at two new exhibitions on the weekend of May 28 and 29, 2011 at Alexandra Park in Greenlane, Auckland.
The first New Zealand Organic Expo and The Green Living Show 2011 are targeted at trade and consumers. Entry to the show is free for visitors.

In December 14 year-old Antony Kapeli Sua from Papakura High School whipped up a cupcake storm and was announced the Supreme Winner of the inaugural Chelsea School Bake Off, after battling it out with four other ultra-talented semi-finalist students from across Auckland.
The students competed under the watchful eye of expert judges: this year’s winner of NZ MasterChef Brett McGregor; New Zealand Sugar marketing manager, Monique Farrell; and chief judge Lauraine Jacobs, president of the NZ Guild of Food Writers. The judges were very impressed by the talent of these young bakers and their ability to handle the heat of the competition.

NTT Communications in Japan has created an iPhone application that estimates the amount of calories in food, reveals Time.com. All the user has to do is point and shoot a picture of the desired item with their phone, which will then be compared to a database of approximately 100,000 foods to tell them how much energy is in it.