Food recommendations

For those who have been or are out there can you give us some food recommendations. We are touring in a camper van so will be mainly cooking for ourselves.
What are the delicacies that we have to try whilst there and what would you say was typical kiwi food.
Oh and anything to avoid as well.

I suggest Kiwis :icon_biggrin:
Fish and Chips is the most popular takeaway there still, so they must have a pretty 'western' diet really.
Not sure they'll be too many shocking differences in local food to be honest.

Apart from the fish and chips already mentioned ...

Try one of the kiwi individual meat pies bought from a snack bar or cafe. They actually have lots of real meat in!

Lamingtons (probably imported from Australia) but verrrry nice.

Muffins - they come in various savory or sweet flavours. Yummy.

Ice cream - don't forget to try hokey cokey, boysenberry and bananaberry flavours.

Milkshakes - any flavour you can imagine.

There seemed to us to be a lot of venison in the South Island in particular and it doesn't seem to taste as strong as the poor versions we get in the UK. Something to look for in a restaurant.

If in the Rotorua area, you've got to go to a tourist Maori concert and hangi. They cook the food underground and it tastes good.

HTH. (I'm hungry now!) :icon_biggrin:

I have read that Paua is popular to eat. What does it taste like and how do they cook it? and of course where do you buy it.

SteveyC,
Surely that should be "Fush and Chups"?! ::):'

Coxy

[quote:3109d54ab6="Coxy"]SteveyC,
Surely that should be "Fush and Chups"?! ::):'

Coxy[/quote:3109d54ab6]

lol, having been there now I know what you mean about the accent. - apart from the "u" sound that they use instead of "i" there is only one vowel over there which is the "i" that they use for every thing else.

it totally confused us when at a campsite we were asked "hiv youa tinincish for that" -- referring to the ten dollar deposit in cash that they wanted for the gate key, not a quiche demand as we first thought!

[quote:a527863f85="moggy"]I have read that Paua is popular to eat. What does it taste like and how do they cook it? and of course where do you buy it.[/quote:a527863f85]

The only time I have had it are in paua fritters, from a loacl fish and chip (fush und chup) shop.

Personally they didn't grab me as that great, sort of salty hard to describe but blandish flavor. But then neither do whitebait, another delicacy which are also eaten in fritters and even more bland.

Sometimes I think the demand is purely from their scarcity, rather than any culinary delight.

[quote:26942931a1]it totally confused us when at a campsite we were asked "hiv youa tinincish for that" -- referring to the ten dollar deposit in cash that they wanted for the gate key, not a quiche demand as we first thought![/quote:26942931a1]

:icon_lol: i was rocking laughing when i read this - it's so true!! You soon get used to the accent though!!

Lamb - oh so tender. Not like the mutton they try to pass off as lamb in California.
The venison is good, too. It's farmed rather than wild, which may account for its non-gaminess.
Green mussels. We discovered these in Havelock, near Nelson. Quite yummy.
Kiwis have a dessert called pavlova, which is a merengue with fruit on top. I haven't yet tried it, but suppose I should if I get to immigrate. I'm just not a fan of merengue.