Playwright and director Jason Te Mete (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi te Rangi) of Tuatara Collective, is blending his background in theatre with tikanga Māori to strengthen mental health and wellbeing in theatre practitioners and rangatahi.

The Bay of Plenty’s own food guru, Cherie Metcalfe is a trained chef, founder of the hugely successful Pepper & Me, and author of two cookbooks. So who better to be our crusading culinary correspondent, sniffing out the hottest spots and tastiest morsels in town.

Throughout Henry Fa’afili’s life he’s had many roles, including rugby pro, partner, and father. His latest role is empowering the next generation of Tauranga’s rangatahi.

Bay of Plenty was originally named for the region’s bountiful abundance and, as each edition of Our Place has shown, there’s still plenty of important local stories to be told.

Holly is making hay while the sun still shines with these recipes that capture the best of the season’s tomato crop.