BEN SHEWRY

I had a very rural, adventurous childhood. We didn’t have much money at all, but we never felt poor. We always had things to do, like whitebaiting, snorkelling for pãua, kina [sea urchin], mussels and pipis.

Whitebait are endangered now, like any wild seafood that’s under pressure. Back in the early ’80s it was pretty plentiful, and whitebaiting was a national pastime. They are tiny and translucent, nothing like the whitebait in Australia.