Visitors left satsified at Taste of New Zealand - Art on a Plate at the Regal Salmon Star Marquee

In cooking, the importance of perfect presentation cannot be underestimated and New Zealand’s own Masterchefs Nadia Lim and Brett McGregor are – well – masters of it.

In the Regal Salmon Star Marquee at the weekend’s Taste of New Zealand festival, hundreds of eager diners lapped up hints from the chefs on culinary presentation skills.

For visitors, it was a chance to see how the experts impress the judges and they could show off to friends and family at home.

Auckland’s Japanese culinary sensation Sachie Nomura joined Nadia and Brett’s ‘Art of Entertaining’ demonstrations at the Regal Salmon Star Marquee in a highlight of the culinary extravaganza that featured an all-star line-up of celebrity chefs.

All three chefs say they were highly impressed by show-goers’ thirst for knowledge about cooking and interest in food. They say New Zealand really is a nation of dedicated foodies.

“We’ve had people coming up asking extremely intelligent questions about food preparation and design – people really are just interested in learning how to cook better, healthier, tastier food,” Nadia says.

Their hints for a better looking plate? Leave room around the edges of your plate and get creative with colour. And when garnishing – a little goes a long way.

Taste of New Zealand was held at Auckland’s Victoria Park and ran from Wednesday 19th to Saturday 22nd October.