Three of the world's most respected food figures are coming to New Zealand.
Visa Wellington On a Plate is thrilled to welcome James Beard Award-winning pitmaster Rodney Scott, burger historian George Motz, and Michelin-starred chef Keiko Kuwakino alongside Māori chef Joe McLeod, for a series of exclusive 2026 festival events.
Made possible with support from the New Zealand Government's Events Boost Fund, these one-of-a-kind experiences will bring world-class barbecue tradition, burger history, and a shared exchange of Japanese and Māori food culture to Wellington this August.
George Motz
George Motz - 25 August
George Motz is a chef, author, filmmaker, television host, and the owner of Hamburger America, his acclaimed New York City restaurant dedicated to preserving America's great regional burger traditions. Widely recognised as the country's leading burger expert, he has been described by The New York Times as the "foremost authority on hamburgers."
His award-nominated documentary Hamburger America helped cement his reputation as one of the most influential voices in American food culture, leading to bestselling books, the Travel Channel series Burger Land, and his popular Burger Scholar Sessions on First We Feast. After more than 25 years of burger research - and over 30,000 burgers consumed - Motz continues to share and celebrate America's rich burger heritage with audiences around the world.
To learn more about George's exclusive 2026 festival event, visit the event page.
Rodney Scott - 8 August
Rodney Scott has been cooking whole-hog barbecue over live coals since the age of eleven. By seventeen, he was working the pits full-time, honing the craft that would eventually make him one of the most influential figures in American barbecue. What began as helping at his family's roadside barbecue business in South Carolina grew into a career celebrated by food lovers and critics around the world.
In 2018, Scott was awarded Best Chef: Southeast by the James Beard Foundation, becoming only the second pitmaster in history to receive a James Beard chef award. His distinctive whole-hog barbecue style has been featured on Parts Unknown alongside Anthony Bourdain, and in 2020 he was profiled in Chef's Table: BBQ, introducing audiences worldwide to his South Carolina barbecue tradition.
To learn more about Rodney's exclusive 2026 festival event, visit the event page.
Rodney Scott - photo credit Angie Mosier
Keiko Kuwakino is head chef of Sanaburi, the Michelin-starred restaurant at the boutique hotel Satoyama Jujo in Minami-Uonuma, Niigata. Her menus are shaped by the mountains, forests, and rice fields surrounding Niigata's "snow country," built around years spent foraging wild vegetables alongside local farmers. Before returning to Japan, she spent time in Australia and India studying Ayurveda, an early grounding in indigenous food traditions that continues to inform her approach.
She joined the Sanaburi kitchen in 2014 and was appointed head chef in 2018, earning the restaurant its Michelin star in 2020. In 2024, she received Two Knives at The Best Chef Awards, the global ranking's "world-class" tier, awarded to a small number of Japanese chefs worldwide.
For Wellington On a Plate, she joins Chef Joe McLeod (Ngāi Tūhoe) for Kai Meets Shoku, a dinner bringing together Māori and Japanese food traditions at Pipitea Marae.
