What the Hell is that hāngī master up to now?

Hāngī master Rewi Spraggon.
From hāngī pies to hāngī pork steam buns and hāngī dumplings to the world’s first hāngī pizza – Hell’s Unearthed.
That’s what Hāngī Master Rewi Spraggon and pizza chain Hell are launching on Friday to celebrate Māori Language Week.
“I’m on a mission to make the oldest dish in Aotearoa accessible to the nation and if this is a step closer to doing that then I’m on track,” Spraggon told the Herald.
“Pizza was seen as a commoner’s dish in Italy as was hangi here in Aotearoa but it’s a kai that brings whānau together – it’s a double whammy.
“I have cooked hangi for fine dining restaurants and that’s all good but now I can share hangi in multitudes.”
This pizza unearthed will be available in over 80 stores, from Invercargill to Whangarei.
Spraggon said Italians had tasted hangi, when the Māori Battalion was based in Europe.
“The Māori Battalion had a great relationship with the citizens of Italy in the Second World War, and did a lot of hāngī while they were stationed there,” Spraggon said.
The Hell hāngī pizza features traditional hāngī ingredients that have been locally sourced, including pork belly, kumara, a pumpkin and kawakawa puree, and smoky stuffing.
Unearthed is a labour of love created by Hell founder Callum Davies and Spraggon. The pair hopes the pizza will create a new generation of hāngī fans across the motu.
Spraggon started his Hāngī Master business eight years ago. He has cooked hāngī for dignitaries and has taken the traditional cooking technique to China, Japan, Canada, and beyond; he also recently installed hāngī pits at Government House in Wellington.
He’s passionate about delivering an authentic traditional hāngī experience to as many people as possible.
“Hāngī is soul food at its best – translated, it means the essence of life and the internal spark of mother nature. When cooked traditionally, it has a smokey, earthy, and subtly sweet flavour through all the ingredients. It’s delicious and brings people together, which I hope Unearthed will do for New Zealanders who may not have tasted hāngī before,” he says.
Unearthed’s ingredients are cooked in Spraggon’s Auckland hāngī pits, and Spraggon has also developed the pumpkin and kawakawa puree for the pizza.
Davies first had hāngī at Waitangi on Waitangi Day over two decades ago, describing it as a culinary experience he’s never forgotten. He has long wanted to create a pizza using traditionally cooked ingredients with the authentic taste of hāngī.
“Pizza is one of those foods made for sharing, like hāngī, so we’re excited to bring the two together. We’ve been working on this for a long time – before we met Rewi, we couldn’t source enough authentically cooked ingredients or were faced with using ingredients that weren’t cooked in pits, so didn’t deliver the true hāngī taste – neither of these options were good enough for us.
“It’s been a privilege to collaborate with Rewi to create Unearthed. This is unlike any pizza we’ve made before, and we’re proud to support his work in reviving and celebrating traditional Māori cuisine,” he says.
In collaborating with Spraggon, Hell hopes Unearthed will inspire or encourage people to have a kōrero while sharing a meal during Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori and beyond.