Salt, smoke & heat

It probably arose out of the practice of drying food. Meat and fish can be preserved by drying in the air or over a slow fire. Air-dried fish remains popular with many ethnic groups, primarily those living in high latitudes.

In New Zealand, Maori preserved fish in huge quantities, usually by air-drying on racks exposed to the wind. Dried kahawai, sharks, barracouta and eels were staple foods, but most fish could be dried and the technique was also used to preserve the meat of sea mammals. Dried fish was a valuable commodity – coastal iwi traded