New World

A Photo Excursion to the Supermarket

This may be your first view of new zealand. This alternative to the turnstyle is the one-way exit from auckland airport and the entrance to all supermarkets.

Normally our hunting and gathering would involve a visit to Countdown or New World supermarkets, not fishing hunting or growing veg. We had a bit of fun with these outings. Below are some of the odd finds and best supermarket souvenirs to tuck into your checked luggage home.

Heinz means beans? How confusing. Here it's Wattie's in an identical tin, no doubt rebranded to also make the Kiwi's think it's a tradition of their own.

Lamb Swirl? - I thought we would be living like kings in New Zealand. I dreamed of cooking up the Rolls Royce of meat, rack of lamb, once a week to suit a nice pinot noir. In reality much of the stock goes to export and there's no value in raising sheep for wool anymore either. A lamb costs a bucher 100 dollars wholesale and thus the only people who buy it locally are the fancy restaurants (a rare breed themselves).

Our modest budgets and royal appetites could always settled for a lamb swirl (below) I suppose, or surrender to 'cooked chooks' which are plain rotisserie chickens. Luckily we didn't have to try the swirl. Nothing could have topped the lamb we ate for Sunday dinner at the Speedy's that they shot the day before. Experiencing the entire carnivore process was far removed from any supermarket.

Another odd surprise - pre-pealed onions. Why not? This, along with mayonaise mixed with apple sauce, ended up on our list of unsolved mysteries.

I was soon shocked again in the vegetable isle with the dirt cheap price of avocados. Back home they are expensive, often really expensive. In Australia they command a price of 7 dollars each. While here you can get 10 for a fiver from a farmer at the side of the road, or 50c each here in the shop. Guacamole season was officially open!

Belive it or not. The mighty avacado is only about 25 euro cents.

This was all very twilight zone. Then we really scratched our heads when we found the refridgerated dog food section. It was time to focus, and consult my shopping list that the trusty Paris Kiwis gave me to explore some true supermarket gems. I'll share these with you tomorrow in part two should you ever make it all this way and want to take some odd flavours back home.