Food - Pies, Lemon and Paeroa, Hokey Pokey Icecream

Well, what is it with New Zealand cuisine?

This is my first blog which might sound slightly critical of NZ. But well, really.

Here we are at the end of summer, in a country justly famed for it's agriculture. Just down the round there's Fruit World. Every time we drive past it, the children chant a paean to the wonders of it's wares. Great bins of fruit, four different kinds of nectarines, three kinds of peaches and melons, four varieties of apples, plums, kiwi berries, grapes, raspberries, blueberries, all grown in New Zealand. There are heaps of vegetables too, locally grown. But what do you get if you go out to a cafe? Deep fried fish (or meat) and chips. Not even a sprig of parsley. Nothing green, nothing fresh. You can't even order it as a side salad. The only vegetable option is baked beans.

Kiwis seem to be addicted to pies. At every dairy (cornershop) and cafe, pub and bar, hoardings proclaim "Pies". Great, greasy things with limp, tough pastry and minute portions of filling. In the Lifestyle section of this week's Saturday paper, there was a colour food feature on up to the minute canapes - "when you want to impress your friends, you can't go past a pie" - mini cottage pies with a pastry crust and wavy potato topping, sorry crust.

However New Zealand posses some hidden weapons for world (food) domination... L&P - too good to restrict to one small corner of the Pacific. Lemon and Paeroa is the fizzy drink of choice in our house. Coke is passe for Peter, and Felicity wants to import it to the UK in a container shipment. Hokey Pokey icecream - those crunchy toffee bits are just fab. Lisa's Kumara and Pumpkin hummus, crunchy breakfast cereals...yum yum yum.

Wish you were here?

Catherine