Aplaca’s are an ideal grazer in our dry Hawke’s Bay climate and they have a lesser environmental impact on the land than sheep and cattle. Being a grass eater the taste isn’t gamey, unlike a lot of exotic meats. It’s a juicy sweet-tasting meat and for the health conscious lean, very low in cholesteryl and high in iron and protein-rich. Mesa Meat Company do a range of cuts, sausages and pies and if you’re not game enough to buy and prepare it yourself … there are a few restaurants around in which to become initiated. Otherwise cook quickly on a high heat and serve rare to medium.

Manurau free range game birds deliver to your door and sell from both Napier and Hastings Farmer’s Markets. The Wairoa-based farm offer a range of quality and unusual birds, including quail and quail eggs, duck, goose, squab, pigeon, bantam and guinea fowl. I love poking around at their display (okay maybe just looking) imagining how they’d taste and what I’d create with them. It’s a bit of a foodie’s heaven especially at Christmas, and mid-winter is coming up. I imagine my table dressed with a multi-bird roasted Turducken – a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned turkey, which in turn is stuffed into a deboned goose.

An increasing appetite for organic meat transformed what began as a fledgling local business on the ‘Ti Kouka’ farm 14 years ago. Now known as The Organic Farm it sells across the country and five certified farms supply The Organic Farm Butchery in Hastings. They stock everything from wild red deer venison, lamb, beef, pork and gourmet sausages, bones and lard. Everything is nitrate, preservative and gluten free and they boast their waste footprint is almost zero.

The name Bostock is familiar to commercial apple production and is fast becoming recognisable for its free range certified organic poultry. Rest assured these very tasty chickens have ‘lived a life’, been well looked after and nurtured all the way from pasture to plate – fed on lush grass, locally-grown feed and apples with no chemicals, no antibiotics, no hormones and no genetic modification. Bostock’s Organic Free Range Chicken has only been around for a year and already has a name for being a superior and very delicious product.

If that special must-impress guest is coming to dinner this is the place to get inspiration. Gourmet Direct stock delicacies such as rabbit, goose, pheasant, quail, poussin, venison, veal and organic poultry plus gourmet deli products, Zeelandt Brewery beers and East Coast wine – all New Zealand grown.

If you hate the puddle of water that mysteriously finds its way into the frying pan with your bacon try Holly Bacon. It’s dry cured in the traditional way so the bacon goes crispy. In 1914 the Vogtherr family brought their German pork recipes into the country and set up shop here in Hawke’s Bay. The business is now run by fourth generation Claire. Her daughter, Ellie, who does the weekly Hastings Farmer’s Market, says being in a family-run business is something she doesn’t want to lose and she’s looking forward to taking the business over when Claire retires.

Even if you aren’t a big carnivore try passing this butcher by. The window display is spotlessly clean and would make any half-hearted vegetarian‘s mouth water with its freshly laid out gourmet cuts. They specialise in high quality whole carcass butchery, free range chicken and pork, aged beef and lamb, small goods and ham and good old fashioned service. Paul and his team have won a few awards over the years and the sausages are a winner too, taking on 450 others to win the Supreme Award at last year’s Devro New Zealand Sausage Competition.

A well-seasoned butcher of more than 20 years Darren and his wife Marion produce the best because they care about what you eat. Everything is New Zealand-grown and all products are produced on site. They’re so popular they opened another – Baldy’s Mother Hen in Kmart Plaza. As well as a decent cut, it’s a good place to pick up great family specials and a ready-made rissole, schnitzel, meat loaf, casserole or stir-fry.

With a multi-skilled butcher-chef-caterer boss at the helm expect to get something good. As well as a range of gluten and preservative free sausages, salami and tasty cuts of grass-fed Turihaua Angus beef and lamb from the Gisborne ranges Gisborne Deli & Butchery do naturally smoked salmon, chicken, mushrooms and lamb on site and lovely lunches and out-catering.

Choose from four fresh tantalising seasonal salads or a daily soup creation, as well as a blackboard-style menu. All the green goodness in their salads looks like good brain and energy-giving food to me. The mantra here is fresh, local, simple and tasty. Delicious juices and smoothies back up the coffee and just in case you need carbs, there’s a selection of baked pastries.

The best thing about this café is its pick and mix salad bar where you get to select and build your own awesome sandwich or salad. Most of the baked goods are made on site. Urban Deli is good value and a popular lunchtime destination.

When you get two talented chefs with shared health concepts and a combined talent for healthy food it’s an instant recipe for success. Local chefs Ben Cruse and Lucinda Sherratt conjure up daily colourful, textural, tasty and guilt-free eats for the lunch crowd using organic local ingredients and suppliers where possible. Using top-of-the range ingredients it’s a bit on the pricey side, but what value do you place on health and Red Rabbit is my most-loved coffee in town.

Loads of choices for the dietary-aware – vege, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, and ‘full-of-gluten’ – all tailored to the local crowd with nicely brewed Hawthorne coffee to back up lunchtime grazing. It’s fresh, healthy, homemade food with lots of imagination used in the fillings and Fuse has been a popular local business hangout for some time.

As well as supplying the best of Hawke’s Bay on a platter, or in a gift hamper, along with fresh produce, wine, deli items, gift hampers, Bellatino’s serve up fresh salads, sandwiches and treats daily. It’s a foodie’s heaven and an ideal place for lunch-time loading. Just choose from one of their delicious counter salads, grab a coffee and tuck up in the eating space with a magazine. So good you may even be inspired to grab one of their delicious freshly ready meals for dinner.

At first glance this store is hardly recognisable as a recycled clothing business. The window display is smart, the accessories look new and the clothes and shoes fresh and fashionable, and in-season. Emma has an eye for the latest look and labels and has heaps of styling advice.

Check out Second-hand Sunday held on the first Sunday of every month except January thanks to the initiative of Gisborne District Council. It’s a popular development in many of the world’s cities and much like running a garage sale from your home. Think – another one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” It’s a chance to give away household items you no longer want or collect items from others for free – furniture, household goods, clothes, building materials, children’s toys, books etc. You can put out any items except food and dangerous goods or electrical equipment and no rubbish, but you need to register your address the Thursday before the Sunday collection and then download the list online. There’s no excuse for hoarding now.

Another stylish pre-loved clothing boutique taking only quality threads. It’s a place you can get designer clothing and accessories for a lot less than the original price. All items are donated and the proceeds go to the Hawke’s Bay Breast Cancer Trust. A great place to have a chat with the friendly staff, find a bargain and give to a worthy cause.

Spread the love. As well as helping pre-loved items find a new home, you can give our beautiful creatures a second chance by donating clothing, bric-a-brac and small electrical goods to the worthy cause. The shop is run solely by volunteers. Nothing to spare – how about donating a gold coin toward the valuable de-sexing programme, or even better adopting one of the animals. Be assured you will have a loyal furry four-legged friend for life.

A great place to find a new or retro piece for your household. Thanks to the generosity of business and locals the store is stocked with new and good quality used items – furniture, clothing, toys, kitchenware, books, household items and in the spirit of the charity there’s often a variety of building materials and tools. There’s often a quick turnover so it pays to check in often and by buying from here you will help support community building programmes and housing solutions.

There’s enough chocolate in to mend any broken heart in Silky Oaks hot chocolate blend. My mouth started watering before my first sip. It comes beautifully presented in a glass mug mixed with a swirling layer of melted gooey chocolate straight from the factory and is topped with thick creamy milk and thickly sprinkled with chocolate and garnished with two chocolate moulded coffee beans. Talk about death by chocolate and if you haven’t had enough decadence add the chocolate cake to your list. There’s a gluten-free option and it comes with another side of thick gooey melted chocolate and whipped cream. So rich and so yummy. The best of the hot chocolates.

A silky heavenly journey back to the Pacific Islands. Being the real raw deal it’s very anti-oxidant rich. Made heated and beaten and without additional milk it makes its own crema, although it needs bulk sweetening to take out the natural bitterness. Go to olapacifica.com to find the nearest stockist. Make a big hot steaming pot and keep in the fridge for a few weeks. This is an extra special love because take heart in knowing you are helping to keeping the environment safe and serving the families and communities of Samoa.

Bohemian Ujazi café, does a nice creamy smooth chocolate and frothy milk along with nine other styles of coffee, including the harder to find Affogato. With an additional mini chocolate fish and marshmallows to go alongside it looks deliciously tempting and a pull for sweet toothed kids. Sip this on a hot day on one of the outside tables or take a pew upstairs on the mezzanine and let the heat of the kitchen warm you up.

Not the creamiest of brews and heavily sweetened, but probably a far more humanitarian choice and less fattening from the fair-trade supplier. It comes with a dusting of chocolate sprinkles and a couple of marshmallows.

Hot chocolate of a nice creamy consistency with a good mix of frothy milk on top and a dusting of cocoa. It should he served the same way in each of the trio of eatdrinksharehb cafes in Napier and Hastings – Opera Kitchen, F. G. Smiths and the Albion Canteen.

You can’t miss the big red and white signage advertising free Wi-Fi outside café Divine. Owner Lynda welcomes both visitors and locals with its doors wide open to the friendly café. With all the yummy cakes on display it’s not hard to spend some time here.

Free wifi at this funky haven for locals and mums and dads, which honours morning gym junkies with a special paleo breakfast – less starch, more protein – propped up with fresh avocado and kumara cake, instead of toast. I love Zoey and the friendly relaxed tone set by the A & E’s team plus the safe child-friendly space laden with books and toys.

I feel right at home in this cosy converted villa in the business end of town. Alongside top-notch coffee Raffles Café has excellent food served by ultra-friendly staff. It’s a lovely place to sit for a while and access their free Wi-Fi.

Fresh healthy vegetarian organic food mixed in with free Wi-Fi. There’s a variety of seating inside or capture the early-morning sun by choosing a table roadside, or all-day sun in the back courtyard. A nice place to do business.

Free Wi-Fi across the road from the seaside. I love perching myself on one of the two high tables with a good coffee or glass of wine and checking my news online. And it’s open for breakfast, lunch and dinner so you won’t get shooed out late afternoon for closing.