We shopped every few days at the New World Super Market, in Whitianga. There were some things that caught my eye, made me laugh, or otherwise gave me pause, such as:
-Refrigerated dog and cat food, in what appeared to be 2 pound rolls. This station was usually next to the freezer/fridge for bait. What, you think the fish just jump on the boat?
-Lamb and mint flavored chips. A hit with Oscar and my tween cousin, but I prefer chips that are salted or vinegar flavored. The flavor scientists have been busy. Other disturbing flavor combos were: smoked salmon with cream cheese and capers; and chicken.
-Puff pastry, everywhere. The Kiwis like their puff pastry, and a popular appetizer is sausage rolls, which are sausage wrapped in puff pastry. Greasy as hell, and very tasty. Sausage rolls are also sold at bakeries, and are popular with car travellers as well as truck drivers.
-Eggs are stacked and always stored at room temperature. I didn't get to the bottom of this, but my Aunt has not heard of any sort of health problems stemming from this in the fifteen or so years she's lived and visited there.
-New names. Bell peppers are called capsicums. What appeared to be kale is called beet root.
-Cadbury seemed to have a lock on most of the middle market for chocolates. They dominated the shelf space by a good 70% in many different places I looked.
-Take your lumps. I tore my lip on a Hokey pokey, which is similar to honeycomb, and coated in milk or dark chocolate. The hokey pokeys were paired with pineapple lumps, which are also covered in chocolate. There was a commercial that showed in a humorous way that the pineapple lumps are a national treasure for the New Zealanders, similar to the way S. Africa loves its diamonds. Sweets of all sorts are called "lollies."
-Wash it all down with ginger beer, which is a sort of fizzie (what we call a soda).
On a let-me-tell-ya note, I wish I could share most of the photos from our trip. Alas, we -- and I was handing Oscar the camera, so I do mean we -- dropped our digital camera on my Aunt's deck. It made me mad, but there wasn't a thing I could do. Replacement costs would equal or go over the amount we spent for the actual camera. We decided to take the low tech route of buying 2 disposable cameras, but I don't have all those pics back. I hope my words do an okay job of describing things til then.
Have you visited New Zealand? What were some food treats you found? Comment or as always, email. No need to be shy.
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