Once a favoured kai of the Māori, Maggie Papakura in 1938 notes: "The feathers were used in the making of cloaks, and the body was cooked in a hangi or roasted before the fire on a stick."
For our early settlers, bringing out the best in stewed swamp hen seemed a little tricky. Author Brad Parkes wrote about its tough stringy flesh saying:
"Perhaps I've been prejudiced by the time worn cooking recipe for pukeko: Put in 4 gallon kero tin, weigh down with clean river boulder, boil for four days, throw away pukeko and eat boulder."
