Wicked West Coast Whitebait

It's a kiwi tradition, eating freshly fried whitebait between slices of white bread with lashings of butter.

So simple to prepare. Add the whitebait to beaten egg and fry in a little blend of butter and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, or a squeeze of lime or lemon, and it's ready to eat.

The flavour is so subtle, you may wonder what all the fuss is about.

I eat whitebait the way that my parents did, unadulterated!

The Whitebait season runs for about 14 weeks from August to November across New Zealand, except the West Coast and Chatham Islands which have a slightly shorter season.

Five native species

Whitebait are the juveniles of five species of fresh water fish:

• īnanga (Galaxias maculatus)

• kōaro (Galaxias brevipinnis)

• banded kōkopu (Galaxias fasciatus)

• giant kōkopu (Galaxias argenteus)

• shortjaw kōkopu (Galaxias postvectis).

While this delicacy is gathered from streams and rivers all over the country, there's something extra special about the whitebait that's caught on the West Coast of the South Island.

Maybe their flavour is attributed to the purity of the wild west coast waterways.

This region has high rainfalls and is a raw mountainous country that runs into the Southern Alps. The rugged nature of the terrain has also limited the agriculture progress in the region.

I have fond memories of holiday's at my sister place in Greymouth.

She was a fervent whitebaiter on the banks of the infamous Grey River where she would perch for hours , days, weeks, months gathering with her net, the translucent delicacies.

She would entertain us with the many stories about the west coast personalities that she shared the banks of the Grey River with.

The freezer would be stocked for our annual family reunion.

She was the most magnificent hostess and never failed to spoil us rotten in every way, including serving massive platters of wicked Westcoast Whitebait Fritters. We always returned home with chilli bins loaded!

My children were lucky to have enjoyed such a privilege each year.

They are adults now, but to this day my son still buys a few kilo's of Whitebait that is flown up to the North Island from the West Coast, and he still shares them with his mother.

Arohanui Annie

Much love to you my sister.