Method · Te Reo labels
The Māori word next to each staple.
A short note on where the translations come from and why two staples don't have one.
Where the word comes from
Each Māori word that sits beside an English staple name on a staple page is sourced from Te Aka Māori-English Dictionary (maoridictionary.co.nz), accessed 27 May 2026. Each word on a staple page links straight to its Te Aka entry so a reader can verify the translation themselves.
Where no agreed translation exists, we render English alone rather than manufacture one
Two of the nine staples — capsicums and broccoli — don’t have a single agreed Māori word in everyday use. Rather than mint one or pick a descriptive phrase that no shopper would recognise, we leave the English name alone on those staple pages. The admission is the editorial honesty. If Te Aka publishes (or already publishes) an agreed word we’ve missed, please email us and we’ll update.
Why we don’t over-qualify the word
We picked the everyday-shelf word a Kiwi shopper is most likely to recognise. On mince that means mīti, the generic meat word, not a beef-specific qualifier. On chicken thigh that means heihei, the bird, not a cut-specific phrase. The staple page already names the cut in English; the Māori word is there to acknowledge the language, not to dictionary-test the reader.