Food Culture in New Zealand

Hello there!

I’m doing some research on food culture in New Zealand and I will be sharing some interesting stuff here. This is my first post and  I’ll be telling you something about the food culture in New Zealand. I hope you’ll like it!

The food culture in New Zealand is very interesting, it appears that their food culture consists mainly of seafood and meat. New Zealand is surrounded by sea so it isn’t surprising that seafood is common but examples of common species in New Zealand are greenshell mussel, black oreo and albacore tuna. But you can get more information about the seafood here.Meat is also part of the food culture in New Zealand, as I said earlier, but New Zealand is a  nation of keen farmers. There is a lot of sheeps in New Zealand so they are famous for their lamb. They  are also famous for their beef but not as much they are for their lamb. The lamb is also their favourite.

Kiwis love sweets or lollies like they call it.  They love  good ice cream but Hokey pokey creamy vanilla ice cream strewn with pieces of honeycomb is a kiwi favourite. I also found out that they like minties, which is like a hard -white -chewy -mint-flavoured sweet, and pineapple lumps that’s sort of like a chocolate coated pineapple flavoured toffee I think. Of course there are lots of other sorts of lollies and I have to mention the pavlova, a kiwi favourite, which is a meringue- based dessert. I’m not sure  if they call that lolly but it’s definitely in their food culture.

Now I’ve  told you a little bit  about the food culture and I hope you learned something from it, at least I’ve learned that they love seafood, lamb and lollies.

In the following posts I’ll be telling you more about food and interesting stuff so keep on reading!

- Þórey

Recourse:

http://www.newzealand.com/int/feature/favourite-new-zealand-foods/

http://www.newzealand.cl/food.htm

Maori Hangi

One interesting thing  I found when I was doing some research is the Maori hangi.

Maori hangi is a tradition where they cook the food underground, using heated rocks in a pit oven. This method for cooking is usually used for special occasions to share with friends and family. It’s also a great way to interact with the maori culture!
This method has been used for over two thousand years. Maoris ancestors heated stones and placed meat on top with some vegetation on top of that and then left it to cook.  Then through the years and experience they found the best cooking method. That cooking method has not changed since.
Chicken, fish and root vegetables was usually the food that was used in hangi. But now they also use pork, mutton or lamb, pumpkin, potato and cabbage.
The food is put in some wire baskets and then put in a pit with some heated rocks. Then the food is covered with wet cloths and some earth. The food is in the ground for around 3 to 4 hours and then it’s ready.

If you are interested and want to learn more, I found some website where you can find out how to do a hangi  from step to step here 

And here I found some video how to do a maori hangi 

- Þórey 

Resource:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C4%81ngi
http://www.genuinemaoricuisine.com/Folders/Hangi.html
http://www.newzealand.com/travel/en/media/features/food-&-wine/maori-culture_maori-food_feature.cfm

Meals of the day in New Zealand

In this post I thought it would  be nice telling you about the typical meals in New Zealand throughout the day.

So I'll start with the breakfast.
The breakfast normally just consists of cereal and some toast with a cup of coffee or a tea or just something to drink.  On the weekends they sometimes eat more fancy and cook their breakfast which consists of scrambled egg, bacon, cooked tomatoes, mushrooms, hash browns and baked beans. It's very similar to  English breakfast.

Moving on to lunch. For lunch they usually eat something simple. They often have some sandwiches or hot pies. They have to have some space for the dinner! But on sundays they sometimes have something called "Sunday Lunch" but that's a roast beef and roast potatoes and pumpkins, slowly cooked in the oven. That's a bit heavier than a sandwich!

Then there's the main meal of the day, dinner. It  usually includes meat and cooked vegetables and potatoes. It's just very simple and typical.

Then last but not least there's the dessert. For dessert they often have their famous Pavlova but thats their favourite. But I'll tell you about that later.


So this is sort of their food diary in New Zealand. It's very similar to other countries especially Britain.

Cheerio!
- Þórey

Resource:

http://www.newzealand.cl/food.htm

Introduction

So I did a little research on Canadian food. In my research about Canadian food I found out that Canada's food is very influenced by the British - Scottish and the French and it is very different between where in Canada you are located. It is most likely that the relation to British - Scottish food culture is from back in the days when Canada was a British colony. Also there are links between food in the United States and in Canada, probably because those two countries locations.

The things that are called typical Canadian things are often not just Canadian because the ingredients come from other countries – the recipe is just Canadian. Some people even say that the Canadian cuisine is not a Canadian one, they say it is just cuisines taken from many other countries. The Canadian cuisine is very international and many of the most popular dishes come from other countries. That is because of how many people from other countries live their. Chinese-, Italian-, Indianfood and more are examples of popular food in Canada. 

Hlín 

Iconic Canadian food

This is my second blog and I was not really sure about what to write about. Then I decided to talk just loosely about the most typical Canadian foods/recipes or things that are popular in the Candian food culture. I found an article from Huffington Post and I chose from that site few things I would like to tell you about. The article about Canadian cuisine helped me a lot with finding things that are the most popular ones in Canada. I will put the link of the sources beneath. 

Maple syrup

Maple syrup is probably the most famous Canadian food icon and I think most people link Canada and maple syrup together. The maple syrup can be made from most of the maple tree species. The indigenous people in North America were the first to use it and collect it. In 1970s the technology had improved. Nowadays Quebec in Canada is the largest producer and Canada's exports exceed about 130.5 US dollars per year. The Canadians use the syrup in all kinds of baking and cooking but what they love is putting it on their breakfast pancakes.

Poutine

The poutine is sometimes called Canada's official national dish. It is made out of french fries that are topped with a light brown sauce and cheese. The dish comes originally from Quebec and was originated in the 1950s but can now be found almost everywhere in the country and is often sold in fast food chains like Burger King and McDonalds.

Ketchup chips

The ketchup flavored chips were first put out on the market in the 1980s by a company called Herr's. The ketchup chips are exclusively Canadian but only one in every ten Candians know that. The ketchup chips from Lay's are now the most popular ones and they are also sold in some places in the United States. I found this chip flavour very interesing and I had never heard of it before.

 
Kraft Dinner

The idea of the Kraft Dinner first came out in the Great Depression and the company Kraft introduced the product in the United States and Canada in 1937. In the United States and in Australia the Kraft Dinner is better known as Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. It was and still is very popular mostly because of how cheap it is and easy in making.
 

Montreal-style bagel

The Montreal-style bagels are not typical ones like we know. The Montreal-style ones are handmade and wood-fired baked, they are also sweeter, smaller and denser then the once we are used to. The Montreal bagels are originally European and were brought to North America by jews from eastern Europe and the first baked in Montreal by Hyman Seligman. Both nowadays and back in the days special bagels shops are very popular in Canada but there are also two in New York. The Montreal-style bagels are also selled in just normal bakery's.
Pierogi

So this dish is not originally Canadian but since Canada has so many immigrants from Poland, Russia and Ukraine, this dish has become a really popular one. This dish comes originally from Poland and it is also known as dumblings. The pierogi/dumblings are unleavened dough that is filled with ingredients like for example; potatoes, cheese or ground meet. The filled dough is then boiled in water, butter and usually onions. When I was in Estonia in 2012 I tasted pierogi/dumplings at a Russian restaurant. The piergoi/dumplings were filled with both meat and cheese and were served in a bowl of hot water so they were fresher. This dish does not look very good but the taste is good I can tell you.

Probably many other things are known as typical Canadian, but if I would talk about them all it would take many days to read this blog so I am going to stop now. Hope you enjoyed this article.

Here are the resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poutine

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/06/28/canadian-food_n_2869764.html

http://o.canada.com/life/who-invented-ketchup-chips

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraft_Dinner

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal-style_bagel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierogi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple_syrup#Europeans

Hlín

 

Meals of the day - Canada

Breakfast 
People in Canada eat breakfast before 12 o'clock in the morning. The Canadians prefer eggs, bacon and pancakes for breakfast. Maybe they would do mapled syrup glazed bacon but then they put maple syrup on the bacon and bake it in the oven.Toasts with peanut butter and jelly are also quite popular and cereal too.

Many people drink either tea or coffee with their breakfast.Water, milk and juices are the most popular drinks for children. 

Lunch
The Canadian people eat lunch somewhere between 11am and 3pm. Sandwiches are popular as lunch in the work week and children usually take them to school. Salads, soups, tacos, pizzas and burritos are also quite popular as lunch.

Dinner

Dinner is eaten somewhere between 5pm and 9pm. For dinner Canadian people often eat meat or fish dishes. All sorts of salads and vegetables are also eaten for dinner. The Canadians drink water, sodas or wine with their dinners. 

Hlín

Resourches:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunch#North_America
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast

Australian Food Culture

Australia has a rich food culture and when Australia became a British colony, their food culture was strongly influenced by the British and Irish and is one of the things that identifies Australian food culture today.There are a lot of exciting animals and fruits in Australia that have a major impact on their food culture. For example they eat kangaroo, emu and crocodile meat. Australia also has 11 million square kilometre fishing zone and they produce high quality seafoods for domestic consumption and export. They also have a lot of native fruits such as, Quandong which is their native peach, Wattleseed, Muntries, Illawara plums, Riberry and Lilli Pillies. They most often eat the fruit fresh and fruit salads are very popular.
Many famous chefs are from Australia for example Curtis Stone who is very well known there and you can even watch his cooking videos on youtube right here. Bill Granger, Donna Hay, Neil Perry, Luke Nguyen are also very famous chefs from Australia. There are just so many talented chefs there!

If you want to know more about Australian food, you should check out my other posts!

Fjóla

Resource
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_cuisine

Iconic Australian Food

To get the idea of Australian food, it might be helpful to learn about some of the iconic Australian food. I decided to write about Vegemite, Chiko Rolls and ANZAC Biscuits which are very famous in Australia.



Vegemite
What is it?
 A dark brown paste and is made from leftover brewers yeast extract with vegetable and spice additives.
How do people eat it?
They put it on sandwiches, toast, crackers, crumpet, for filling pastries and more. So basically you put it on something you would put nutella on!
How does it taste?
Vegemite is salty, bitter and malty.People say it is very similar to marmite, promite, cenovis and hefeextrakt. Hopefully now you have an idea how it tastes like.



Chiko Roll
What is it?
Savoury snack and was inspired by the Chineese egg roll and spring rolls. Consists of meat, celery, cabbage, barley, rice, carrot, onion, green beans, spices. It is deep-fried and is easily eaten.



ANZAC Biscuits
What is it?
A sweet biscuit, made of rolled oats, flour, desiccated coconut, sugar, butter, golden syrup, baking soda and boiling water.
Why is it called ANZSAC Biscuits?
They were made by the soildures wifes during the WWI and they were sold to buy small necessities and lucuries for the ANZAC troops.


Hope you liked this post,  thanks for reading

Fjóla

Resource
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_cuisine
http://australianfood.about.com/od/discoveraussienzfood/tp/Iconic-Foods.htm

Meals of the Day in Australia

So you can get even better idea of the food culture in Australia, I decided to do a post about the meals of the day there.



Meals of the day in Australia
Breakfast:
On weekends, Australians often make fried eggs with bacon or a fresh fruit salad. On weekdays they like to keep things simple like cereal with milk or toast with vegemite.
Lunch:
Australians often eat meat pies, hamburgers, sandwiches with for example vegemite or something simple
Afternoon:
Australians love cake and sweets. For afternoon treats they often have Lamingtons, anzac biscuits or something simple.
Dinner:
A typical dinner in Australia would be beef, steak or some other kind of meat, often served with potatoes or vegetables.

From now on you can eat like an Australian!

Fjóla

Resource
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meal