Batty

I buy Keri or Charlies - nothing added either. When people talk about the food here being 'sweet' what products are you talking about? Specifically? The only thing that's too sweet for me is Pavlova but I never liked it, even before coming here. That, and lemon merringue pie. Yuck!

Dirk1971

Not in OZ you can't! I've discovered something similar now, but it's only in one Woolies!

mmmm just juice

sky

Im not just talking about fruit juice , lots of products here are sweeter than the uk equivalent. Also kiwis in general like their food sweeter .... I have found.
Doesn't matter to me whether folk agree or not .

dlmckay

Gosh, you're going to think I'm picking on you now... you're in Australia? I thought you were in Wellington... therefore was confused as to why you couldn't find sugar free juice... surely there's more than one type of sugar free juice in a country with a population of 20 million....

Rustie

I agree with you Sky I think that lots of NZ foods are really sweet and have read in numerous reports that they do have sweetner added to things, a good example is baked beans and tomato sauce.

It's purely down to what you grew up with i believe and you find it in so many things like the differences in takeaway foods; curry's that (imho) have lots of salt and sugar added, etc.
I now make so much of my own foods whereas I used have lots of 'readymeals', but that's just me!

sky

Yes curry sauces are very mild and sweet aren't they and chilli sauce just has no punch at all. I gave up buying jars and packets of that sort of stuff ages ago and just go the indian supermarket or buy basic ingredients.

Buzzy--Bee

One thing Dirk may be finding is that Oz does not import food, therefore anything that is not "Proudly Australian grown" will not be available.

I even saw in a Melbourne supermarket some New Zealand Kiwi fruit, stickered with "NZ produce", under a sign saying "Australian grown"!!!

The Australians will not buy anything imported, they're a bit like the Americans in that aspect.



Buzzy

BEVS

Kiwi Childs entire post makes a huge amount of sense. Great post in fact. I particularly agree with the above comments.

The Weezer

T

I completely agree. New Zealand has giving me an wonderful appreciation for what I left behind. I think if I did not live here I would have lived my life taking for granted what an extraordinary place I grew up in, in the US.

I also find myself diminished by living in New Zealand.
I think the shock of discovery of how difficult life is here is made worse by the hyperbole that is too often advanced by New Zealanders themselves (most beautiful country in the world, best place to raise your kids, some of the freshest food in the world (this is a direct quote from Lonely Planet), friendliest people, cleanest environment, etc.) I find this amusing, as NZers so often boast about not boasting! And what empty boasts they are.

It is nice to know that I am not alone in my estimations, and I also do not feel it is because of personality deficiencies. I have lived my life enjoying good, freshly cooked foods, and trying new foods. I love to read good newspapers. I love to browse bookstores. I like to see live concerts,
especially classical and opera. I love to listen to all kinds of music, from all over the world. I like to travel. I like to try all kinds of restaurants. I love to watch documentaries. I love films, old, new, and foreign.
Above all, I love hiking, and observing the natural world. All of the things I listed are either difficult to do, not available, too expensive, or are very lacking here in NZ. I know there are places to hike, but they are not as abundant as people think. There are no NZ equivalents of a John Muir, or any of the qreat naturalists and conservationists. And I resent having to walk through a cow or sheep pasture to get where I need to go.

I look forward to leaving, and going back home,
and rejoining the world of ideas, possibilities, comfort,
wild, unspoiled land, good and varied food, meeting people from all over the world, and starting my day with an excellent newspaper!

To me, one of the shocking discoveries is how deforested the land is, how little is set aside as natural preserve, and how the dairy industry has turned almost all available land into a cow pasture. Have you ever noticed in Auckland what are called "reserves"? They're often little patches of grass, regularly mowed, often without any trees. I'm not sure what is being reserved, other than the lawn, and some insects. But I believe NZ uses all these little bits of land (and there must be hundreds and hundreds in NZ) and adds them up to include in their statistics of "preserved" land.

New Zealand has given me a deeper appreciation for the beautiful natural environments that I left back home in North American, and have seen in South America, and Africa. NZ landscapes simply do not compare, and beyond that, because the country is small, it is so hard to get away from signs of people, despite it's low population.

By the way, "laid back" as NZers so often call themselves, does not really
mean having an easy going nature. In my experience it means not wearing shoes in public places, and using *a lot* of slang, and having sport as one's main preoccupation, pleasure, and source of conversation.

Apple12

Oh my god - you are criticising NZ for no hiking?? I take it you haven't been living in the South Island then?
There are so many hikes, and so many huts, and so many tramps that are more than 3 days, and so many places where you have a mountain to your self, and no cell phone coverage. I can only assume you haven't spent your time living where I do, what a shame, you might have had a whole different experience.

Jude J

Mmmm, I too sat reading it wondering if I am living on another planet!
Yesterday I went for a walk with my 2 yr old, in the reserve outside my house on the 'crowded' North Shore. We fed the ducks, tons of them, and the pukeko's, laid on the grass by the pond, surrounded by trees, the only sounds were the buzzing of the cicadas, ducks quacking and my daughter attempting to count them. Looking up I happened to catch sight of one of those brightly coloured green, red and blue birds, not sure what they are called!

I've not been to the US, but some parts do look fantastic. I guess if you can put up with the bad things there then it might be a nice place to live.

The Weezer

Hello,
I can see your point!
No, I don't live in the South Island, I live in Auckland, though I have
travelled there. I didn't mean to imply that there weren't hikes in NZ.
Certainly, there are hikes to be done, but there is far, far less opportunity to hike in the Auckland area.
I was being comparative. Within a day's drive of the NY city metropolitan
area, there are many, many hikes, and some of then are truly wild and empty.
The mountains are not as high as the southern Alps, but some of the parks
are vast, such as the Adirondacks, the White Mountains, I could go on.
And it is very varied, including spruce/pine forests, mixed deciduous, full of native plants and animals.
There are far, far fewer options in the greater Auckland area than there were back in my home in New Jersey. In other words, it would be unlikely to get a good job, and earn enough money to live on (without farming), and still be close to good open spaces.
My point was that hiking and the natural world, I do not think, would be
a reason to live in NZ if you are from many parts of North America. It is a
different landscape, and a lot of it is unique, but it is expensive and time consuming to see these places if you do not live close to them.
I quite love the NZ bush, and have gotten to know many of the trees and plants.

Apple12

I guess it all comes down to choosing the place to live that fits both lifestyle and jobs. If you were down here in ChCh I believe that you would have had a totally different experience, if hiking, moutain biking, kayaking, moutaineering, caving, skiing, surfing, are the sort of things you like. What a shame.

Beachcombers

"Laid Back" means not being up your own arse.

The Weezer

You are describing a scene that is very common in urban parks just about
anywhere you'd care to look. I didn't mean to imply that all reserves are treeless expanses of lawn. But too many are, and I've made a study of it. You're lucky to have one that's near water.

It's hard to look at a place objectively if it's your home, so it's hard to imagine what the bad things are. What I say about NZ comes from intimate
experience. Too many of the criticisms I have personally heard about life
in the US comes from people who have never lived there, and get their
knowledge from television shows, news blurbs, or a brief visit, which is not a reasonable way to gain knowledge about a place in its fundamentals.

I find that a brief visit in no way gives you an idea about daily life in a place. Until I lived here, I did not know the particulars, good or bad. Seeing a place, and judging it, based on the well travelled tourist route is sure to leave false impressions.