Helen Leach

Helen May Leach ONZM (née Keedwell; 3 July 1945 – 23 January 2026) was a New Zealand academic who specialised in food anthropology. She conducted research for more than 50 years into the history of New Zealand, the archaeology and anthropology of Oceanic culture, and the social history and anthropology of culinary and horticultural practices, and wrote at least 22 books on these subjects. She was a professor emerita at the University of Otago.