Kiwi Cuisine

Lets just say I think most Kiwis would be offended if I considered Bryant Hall cafeteria food representative of New Zealand's cuisine.

Pro: I have eaten more vegetables here than ever before (side options of each meal).
Con: That means I eat half of the main dish, half of the time.

Pro: You can't mess up toast and it is available at breakfast and lunch.
Con: There is no toast at dinner.

Pro: I love kiwifruits...and there are lots of kiwifruits.
Con: You can't take any food out of the cafeteria except one piece of fruit at lunch or dinner (I prefer apples or kiwis...especially since I have my very own kiwi spoon/spife now!).
Pro: If you get hungry late at night, there is biscuit time, aka supper, (biscuit cookies + milk or hot drinks) from 9 -9:45pm. My favorites taste like coconut. My least favorites taste like ginger and are called Gingernuts (ha).

Pro: There are two NesCafe automatic hot drink makers that make coffee, tea, mochas, cappuccinos, or hot cocoa.
Con: So much for my giving up coffee idea... (and there is no decaf), AND I have had WAY too much hot cocoa in the past 2.5 weeks (remember it's winter here...)


I've started to notice some patterns...

Monday lunch: BUN DAY (haha it rhymes)
aka a sandwich bun with some sort of deli meat to make a sandwich.

Friday dinner: FATTY FRIDAY
aka Fish 'n Chips (or spring rolls for the "Vegos" - vegetarians)

Wednesday/Mid-week lunch and/or dinner: Some random casserole-type thing combining all leftover food from the weekend/previous few days.

i.e.) Today we had a "Pumpkin & Spinach Stack" which consisted of tortilla on top and bottom with a middle of pumpkin, potatoes, kumara (native sweet potato), spinach, and cheese/ham, all baked together.
The break down:
Pumpkin and kumara from earlier in the week.
Cheese bake (the ham/cheese mix) from last night's dinner.
Tortilla (from "wraps" at yesterday's lunch).
* They're good at recycling food here (not just bottles, cans, and cardboard)! Good thing I like leftovers and am eco-friendly.


Typically seen as part of NZ meal (or at least Bryant):
Breakfast-

• Marmite (PS I have switched alliances! After much consideration, I am a Marmite fan.)
• Red plum jam
  
• Muesli (imagine cereal that's a bit flakier than cornflakes made into a bar shape, disintegrates in milk, or is awkward dry because not sweet, or as hard as a granola bar)

Brunch (Sunday)-

• Baked beans
• Spaghetti (picture long noodles in spaghetti-Os sauce - for bfast!) -> Timmy: You would love this, they put it on toast.
  
• Bacon = Canadian bacon-like.
• Sausages = more like hot dogs.
  

Lunch and/or Dinner ("Tea")- I was surprised to find these things at almost every single meal -

• Kiwifruit
  
• Beet root (beets)
• Califlower
• Coleslaw
  
• Carrot shavings
  

Good meals so far:

• Meatball subs!
• Roast chicken breast
• Chicken curry

Most interesting combination I've seen made by fellow student:

• Plain white rice + gravy
• Plain rice + mayo + hot chili sauce
• Carrots as a condiment on ham & egg sandwich
• Chips (french fries) on buttered toast, folded to make a sandwich
• The whole spaghetti for breakfast thing
  

PS: Us Americans get made fun of for putting peanut butter on everything (i.e. apples, bananas).