Seconds, Please!

We now come to part two of our blogs on food.  This part will analyze the differences in New Zealand store cuisine versus American store cuisine.  One of the first encounters with New Zealand food came while we were in Auckland.  Each room of two in the hotel was given a bag with some food in it.  Basically it was milk, bread, peanut butter, jam, cereal, and biscuits (aka cookies).  I'm currently lacking two of these items, otherwise I'd put up a picture.  So the first three items were pretty typical.  The cereal was made by Kellogg's and it was nutri-grain.  Quite tasty.  The biscuits on the other hand... oh my god.  They're called TimTams and they are one of the best store bought cookies, I mean biscuits, I have ever eaten.

I don't know what it is about these things but they are absolutely delicious. I've tried a couple types and my favorite is still the original.  I was introduced a few weeks ago to the 'TimTam Slam,' in which you bit off a small portion of opposite corners, dip one end into a drink (milk, coffee, and hot chocolate being the primary choices) and drink.  If you choose a hot drink option, the chocolate on the inside will melt and you just suck it up.  I will say it again, so good.

My next true encounter with store bought food was once I reached Palmy.  It was here that the real differences showed themselves.  First off, there is no jelly here.  At least not like we know it.  They call Jell-o jelly and they only have jam, not jelly.  AND!  There is no grape jam.  This country makes wine.  Some pretty good wine, too.  But yet they don't make grape jam or jelly or whatever.  Psh, fine.

Another thing that is very prominent in New Zealand is dairy farming.  It's everywhere.  Sheep are more prominent, but still.  There is so much dairy here, and yet the dairy section in stores is still quite expensive- cheese and butter in particular.  Something to think about...

A few other food things I've noticed are: tomato sauce (a slighty spicier, less think ketchup), turkey is not prominent at all, eggs are not refrigerated in stores, I have yet to see bologna, and bacon is generally not in strips.  There are so many differences, but I reallyc an't think of them all right now.  Feel free to check back, I may add on to this later. 

I enjoy finding all the differences between home and here.  It's quite interesting.  The best is when I'm having a discussion with a kiwi and say something that he/she has no idea what I mean.  And it happens in the reverse to.  Clarification is needed everywhere.

I would like to put this out there too- for anyone who drinks energy drinks on a regular basis?  You know the type- needs them to function?  Well those things are rediculously bad for you.  I was told a story a couple nights ago about a guy who died from drinking 5 in one night.  Heart failure.  So I'm not trying to tell you to stop, maybe just slow down a bit.  Also, consider an alternative to whatever brand you're drinking.  I tried this energy drink called XS and it's really good.  No carbs and no sugar.  It's probably one of the healthiest energy drinks you will find anywhere.  You can check it out here- XBlast.com

My last topic for this blog is fast food.  Yep, I went there.  Literally, too.  Fast food has become universal.  McDonalds (Mackers), Burger King (BK), KFC (K Fry), and Subway are the most prominent U.S. fast food joints I've seen here.  They have their own joints too- Burger Fuel, Noodle Canteen, etc.  The reason I bring this up, is the recent release of one of the most disgusting and fattening concepts in fast food history.  That would be the double down from KFC.  Two pieces of chicken, sheese, and bacon, the chicken playing the roll of the bun.  The double down has been in the States for a while, but it only recently emerged here, to some extreme excitement, I might add.  You can check out the insanity here - Double Down Hits New Zealand