Harness Your Inner Hobbit: Food in New Zealand
There's something about eating food in a foreign country that makes it taste so much better. Maybe it's the excitement of trying something new, maybe it's the overall happiness of being in a new place, maybe it's just because the food abroad is better. No matter the reason, New Zealand's food is honestly beyond compare.
While New Zealand has high amounts of British and American influences in terms of food (It's never too hard to find a McDonald's, Starbucks, or Nando's), there are a few things here and there that make it especially unique. First is a sweet potato called kumara (pronounced koom-ra). While they're similar to America's typical sweet potato, they are not quite as sweet and are much healthier for you. I'll admit, I got anything kumara every chance I got. Kumara fries (or chips, as they call them there), kumara chips (or crisps), kumara soup, and even baked kumara.
As I mentioned, there are also tons of influences from places like Britain with the kinds of food that are popular there, including meat pies and Doner Kebabs. Let me be the one to tell you that the little meat pies they sell in bakeries on city corners are some of the best little meals I had in New Zealand. They were perfect for the winter: small, warm, and always yummy. My personal favorite was a butter chicken filled pie.
Not only do they have European influences, but there are also tons of Asian influences in New Zealand as well. Being close to Asia, some of the most common cheap meals you can find in supermarkets are packets of spicy Korean noodles, or nicer brands of instant ramen. For a college student living abroad for 5 weeks, these things are honestly godsend. But there are also some great Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Korean, and Indian restaurants, just to name a few.
As I mentioned in my title, New Zealand is known pretty well for being the filming location of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Hobbiton, as seen in the movies, is a very real place that most of us got the chance to visit. While there, we were served a huge buffet at the Green Dragon fit for a hobbit.
The best meal by far, however, was served to us at the Tamaki Maori Village in Rotorua. It was a hangi feast! Hangi refers to the method of cooking the food, that being in an earth oven below the ground. This is a major part of Maori history, and being able to not only see it but eat the food made from it was an amazing experience. Not to mention the food was beyond delicious. Slow-cooked lamb, chicken, kumara, rosemary potatoes, carrots... just so much wonderful food!
New Zealand is one big melting pot of cultural influences, especially in terms of food. They have things from every corner of the world, and they do it well.
Wiley Bowen
While New Zealand has high amounts of British and American influences in terms of food (It's never too hard to find a McDonald's, Starbucks, or Nando's), there are a few things here and there that make it especially unique. First is a sweet potato called kumara (pronounced koom-ra). While they're similar to America's typical sweet potato, they are not quite as sweet and are much healthier for you. I'll admit, I got anything kumara every chance I got. Kumara fries (or chips, as they call them there), kumara chips (or crisps), kumara soup, and even baked kumara.
As I mentioned, there are also tons of influences from places like Britain with the kinds of food that are popular there, including meat pies and Doner Kebabs. Let me be the one to tell you that the little meat pies they sell in bakeries on city corners are some of the best little meals I had in New Zealand. They were perfect for the winter: small, warm, and always yummy. My personal favorite was a butter chicken filled pie.
As I mentioned in my title, New Zealand is known pretty well for being the filming location of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Hobbiton, as seen in the movies, is a very real place that most of us got the chance to visit. While there, we were served a huge buffet at the Green Dragon fit for a hobbit.
New Zealand is one big melting pot of cultural influences, especially in terms of food. They have things from every corner of the world, and they do it well.
Wiley Bowen
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