An Island of Surprises

MANY KIWIS KNOW OF ITS HISTORY, but few are aware of its blue lagoons and white sand beaches, it’s fantastic food, local dialect, and its unique flora and fauna. Even fewer know that this little piece of paradise just two hours out of Auckland celebrates Thanksgiving. It may be 12,000 kilometres from the US of A, but every November Norfolk Island puts that most American of holidays front and centre with church services and feasting on roasts, pumpkin pie and cornbread.

There is actually a perfectly good reason that Norfolk is one of the few places outside of the United States to mark Thanksgiving. American whalers were frequent visitors to the island, and these hardy seafaring souls found immediate affinity with the locals, who had relied on a mastery of the ocean for their very survival for many years.

An early American trader, Isaac Robinson, is usually credited with formally introducing Thanksgiving to Norfolk Island in the 1880s. Robinson became Norfolk’s Registrar of Lands and the island’s first - and so far only - United States consul, and he was responsible for merging the traditional American celebration with the more English Harvest Home festival. The story goes that he and three friends decorated All Saints Church in the capital of Kingston with palm leaves and lemons, and the rest, as they say, is history; Thanksgiving continues to be a popular public holiday marked each year on the third Wednesday of November.

Betty Matthews

As Tania Anderson, a seventh generation Norfolk Islander and descendant of John Adams, one of the Bounty mutineers, says, Thanksgiving is both in recognition of its American roots but also of the island’s unique history. “Thanksgiving is when we give thanks to the beautiful island we live on and remember our diverse history,” she says. “The church services that are held in the morning of Thanksgiving are so well attended that families have to make reservations for pews each year, and the produce and food that is brought to these services is sold to raise funds for the churches. So it is a really family and community oriented occasion.”

Since 2014, the Norfolk Island Food Festival has coincided with Thanksgiving and it is a perfect fit: a celebration of food, culture and lifestyle that this year runs from 25 - 28 November, the Festival is the chance for us mainlanders to get a taste of island life. The story goes that he and three friends decorated All Saints Church in the capital of Kingston with palm leaves and lemons, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The story goes that he and three friends decorated All Saints Church in the capital of Kingston with palm leaves and lemons, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“For Thanksgiving,” Tania says, “Norfolk Islanders cook traditional dishes to share with family and friends and this was one of the reasons that the Norfolk Island Food Festival was created: to give us a chance to share the way we live on an isolated island with visitors, and for them to enjoy the really fresh and wholesome produce we have here.”

Norfolk is now quite rightly recognised as a foodie paradise, and one with a very important difference; while using local produce instead of mass-produced fare is largely aspirational in most places, in Norfolk it is a way of life. Because of strict biosecurity regulations, the island imports almost no fresh produce, so the vast majority of what you eat there has been grown, caught or made there, including artisan cheese, coffee, honey and of course the incredible Norfolk Island beef, pork and fresh fish.

Thanksgiving is when we give thanks to the beautiful island we live on and remember our diverse history.

It is not an event marketed to the masses like so many other places... Instead, it’s a personalised dining experience unique to Norfolk Island.

This is “farm gate to plate” at its very best, and the Food Festival brings all of the island’s taste sensations into sharp focus with great food in great locations: everything from canapés on the golf course greens and street food – island style – at the old heritage jail in Kingston, to a traditional Thanksgiving lunch and masterclasses with celebrity chefs, gourmet picnics, foraging tours, and traditional cuisine. For fantastic fresh food and authentic flavours this is hard to beat, but the knowledge that this is as home grown as it gets and that you are being welcomed into being a part of a very rare and special experience makes this unique. Forget your pretentious, deconstructed fusion flash in the pans, this is the real deal, a food experience to savour and tell your friends about.

“I think what people like about the Food Festival,” says Tania, “is that it is not an event marketed to the masses like so many other places. Instead, it’s a personalised dining experience unique to Norfolk Island. It’s intimate, it brings you into contact with our culture, and it’s a great way to get to know the island and its people. And to enjoy some really great food on a beautiful island in the Pacific.”

That’s something we can all give thanks for.