Ban on 'pook' meat sales won't stop samples being served.

The 21st Wild Foods Festival to be held this weekend in Hokitika is expected to attract a crowd of 12,000 food lovers and bush bunnies to the small West Coast town. High on the list of things to try will be pukeko, which has been banned from sale but free samples will be offered.

The pukeko came from a fish and game cull of the burgeoning 'pook' population on the coast, which took out 120 birds. These have been plucked, dressed and prepared for sale, but a late decision by local authorities makes sale of the meat illegal. So the organisers are planning to give away samples to interested festival goers.

Other features of the event are the usual huhu grubs, possum pies and whitebait, of which whitebait is again expected to be the most popular.