Meat
Kunekune
B tier
Kunekune is a small, short-legged pig of New Zealand, traditionally kept by Māori communities, with a hairy coat in many colours, often a pair of tassels (pire pire) under the jaw, and a calm grazing habit. Conformation is compact rather than commercial; animals fatten readily on pasture and produce small, fatty carcasses with rich, sweet pork. Culinary use is niche: whole-animal roasting, charcuterie, and farm-to-table joints where small carcass size and outdoor flavour are advantages. Outside meat production, Kunekune are widely kept as pets and orchard pigs; genuine food animals are typically purebred stock finished specifically for the table.
Also known as: Kunekune, Kunekune, Kunekune specialty pork, Kunekune
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History
Small hairy pigs associated with Māori settlements were kept for meat and fat in village and coastal systems.
Kunekune-type pigs persisted in rural New Zealand while larger commercial breeds dominated export production.
Wildlife park and conservation efforts began gathering remaining Kunekune to prevent extinction.
Formal breed recovery and registry work defined modern purebred Kunekune standards.
Exports established Kunekune herds in the United Kingdom and later wider Europe and North America.
Global smallholding and heritage interest expanded Kunekune as both companion animals and specialty pork.