Kārena and Kasey Bird

We are Karena and Kasey Bird, sisters from the beautiful beachside community of Maketu. It is the landing ground of the Te Arawa waka and our special quiet place. Our parents Kerry and Atarangi raised us along with our sister Michaela (who is an incredibly talented make-up artist) here. 

Food has always been at the centre of the most important events in our lives, it has always been a passion and it is the thing that gets us out of bed in the morning. Whether it was eating pipi we had gathered ourselves from the Maketu estuary which we quickly cooked on the BBQ or eating out in New York City when our parents took us on an around the world trip to ensure we knew how big and bright the world is beyond our paradise we call home. We grew up loving all kinds of food, it was part of our soul.

In 2014 we entered and won Masterchef New Zealand and it changed our lives. After our win, we self-published our first cookbook For the Love of... which went straight to number on the Bestsellers list and also won Best Television Cookbook at the Gourmand World Cookbook awards. We have also filmed two seasons of our own cooking series Karena and Kasey's Kitchen Diplomacy which see's us travel to a different country each episode. Since Masterchef we have been to over 50 destinations around the world whilst also being involved with lots of food events all over New Zealand. We released our second self published cookbook Hungry which also won an award at the Gourmand World Cookbook awards. 

Our latest and most exciting project is 'The Creation Dinner' which is our own dining concept of storytelling. We are hosting this dinner in several locations around New Zealand. Click here for more info.