Tom Tutahione from Bluff (originally from Motueka) is on a mission - to find the perfect pie!

Tom's interest in baking was first sparked after watching his mother baking and preparing his and his siblings school lunches.

"I came from a rather large family, so there was always a lot of home baking going on to feed everyone," Tom confesses.

Tom Tutahione

His interest continued to grow before eventually turning into what Tom now admits was a passion.

So it was no surprise that at age 14, the young Tom left school to pursue a career as a pastry chef.

Tom has since worked in kitchens across the industry including supermarkets, rolling pin bakeries and patisseries.

And along the way he has also won industry awards for his cakes, fine pastries, patisseries and of course pies.

After several career changes Tom eventually found himself in Southland studying audio engineering at SIT.

These days Tom (aka Tom Moana or Papa T) can be found behind the sound desk of some of Southland's top rock bands or as an on-air host at Radio Southland.

But his passion for pies and pastries has never waned - which has led to the occasional local pie review.

The Southland App is delighted to publish Tom's pie reviews as what we have affectionally titled " Tommy's Tummy Test".