SC - New Zealand cuisine - OP - Longer than I meant to go on....

[Christina Nevin]

	Stefan inquired:
	Hmm. I don't think I've ever heard New Zealand cuisine ever
characterized.
	Is it unique enough to be described? If so, how would you describe
it,
	especially those of you who may have lived there. I would suspect a
fair amount of fish and tropical fruits but have no
	real idea.


Lets see, yes, NZ cuisine is fairly distinctive. Fish does tend to play a
large part in it (not that I ever ate it!), as does shellfish (NZ green
lipped mussels - if you ever see them, buy them! they're wonderful!), but
actually because we are a farming country (our major export), red meat tends
to dominate. Fish is also reasonably expensive, as most of it is exported to
Japan and other countries. As is lamb (I've eaten more NZ lamb in the last 3
years in the UK than in the previous 10 back in NZ!). 

As for tropical fruit - no. NZ actually has no native fruits whatsoever,
except for berries. Odd, but true. All fruits are imports, including the
world renowned "Kiwifruit" as NZers call it, or "Kiwi" as everyone else
calls it (a 'kiwi' in NZ is our national bird - flightless and endangered -
definitely not something you eat!). And that was imported from China as the
Chinese Gooseberry, then grown from a berry-size to the fruit-size it is
today. And having eaten so much of the darn stuff in my youth, _not_ one of
my favorites - especially as the best quality fruit is exported (yet again).
Otherwise we have very European fruit - apples, plums, peaches, apricots and
from the South Island, exquisite cherries, oranges, etc. Exotics such as
pineapples, figs, mangoes etc can be grown but are mainly imported from Fiji
and other Pacific islands. Nuts are also imports AFAIK. I can only remember
ever buying NZ grown walnuts.

New Zealand cookery, like the US, is an 'immigrant amalgamation', and has
it's major roots in British, Scottish, Irish and Swedish cooking, with some
Slav elements thrown in, in particular parts of the country. Italian cookery
has also got a strong hold on the public imagination in the last 20 or so
years. Native Maori cuisine is a separate affair - basically the 'hangi' -
almost identical to native Hawaiian firepit cooking. It's used for
celebrations (including my Mum's 35th birthday) and official events and
that's about it.

As for NZ cuisine style, think 'Pacific Rim' cooking - it tends to rely on
fresh ingredients, a juxtaposition of tastes, and few long processes. Most
fancy restaurants give everything French names, but the food has deviated
from the original cuisines into a style of its own. "Fresh, fast and tasty"
would perhaps be a good synopsis. (Do you guys in NZ agree?) 

And of course in domestic cookery, there's always the great NZ summer BBQ,
which is quite similar, though not identical, to the great Ozzie summer BBQ
which we discussed a couple of months back. 
[Amusing side note; my Mum won a year's supply of tomato sauce from Watties
last month. My parents go through a bottle about once every 4 to 5 months -
they gave her 48 bottles of the stuff!  Needless to say her friends and
neighbors are now very happy also.]

For holidays and celebrations such as Christmas (despite the swapped
seasons!) traditional British roasts are the norm, but with decidedly NZ
additions of kumara (a delicious sweet potato that I miss horribly),
beetroot, etc. 

Anyway, having finished my paean to the joys of NZ food and cooking, I must
admit if you get invited to one of my bachelor friends for dinner, they'll
feed you Heinz baked beans with cheese on toast. <grin>

Ciao
Lucrezia


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