I’m on my way to the opening cocktail evening for the Food Writers Conference in Napier. The hotel lift opens at my floor and I stop, speechless, as Richie McCaw [current All Black captain] and a couple of his Canterbury Crusaders teammates smile nonchalantly out. No room for me – these boys are big! What am I doing wobbling off to eat and drink tonight? I should be in the gym chiselling my body like these amazing specimens. The momentary motivation passes as we enter the whitewashed historic Hawkes Bay Club, just a stone’s throw from our hotel.

“I’ve just walked into Brad Thorn’s stomach!” my friend Jenny from Beef and Lamb New Zealand says as we munch on large green Orcona jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and sprinkled with smoked paprika. “Those boys are big!”

The upstairs room and balcony is filled with local Hawkes Bay food and wine producers allowing us a personal tasting of their delicious wares. With a glass of Pinot Gris in hand I try Harald’s organic spelt bread, freshly picked hazelnuts, Silver Trail snail pate and saffron meringues. I’ve always used turmeric to give my cooking a yellow colour – it’s much cheaper – and no wonder. Janice from Terraza Saffron holds up a small jar half filled with bright red saffron threads. “There’s threads from 200 flowers in here – enough for 40 meals.” Each delicate purple flower has to be hand picked – back breaking work – and then the threads carefully extracted. Saffron provides colour, aroma and a subtle flavour that carries other flavours, adding a sort of je ne sais quoi element to the dish. “We can’t produce enough,” Janice tells me.

I catch up with Jenny chatting to Keri and Leon, the vibrant girls who developed Hearty Kiwi Beef Patties. With less than 5% fat and packed with carrot, onion, garlic and parsley these are as good, if not better than homemade. The girls tell us the story of how they got started. “We were asked to set up a healthy food stand at an outdoor event. We decided to make healthy burgers but could not find a healthy meat patty anywhere. So we made our own. People kept asking for them and it just grew from there.” Meat patties are almost a staple of the Kiwi diet but can be quite fatty depending on the meat used. It’s great that we can finally buy a healthy one, with the vegetables already added, from the supermarket freezer.

After a slice or two of delicious Poesy bread topped with blue cheese and slices of juicy thick mushrooms I stagger back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. No such luck. Richie and his team have beaten Hawkes Bay and roll back to the hotel to celebrate – right below my window. At least they have good singing voices. I roll over and dream of the next few days – vineyards, sunshine and fine food…