How to Grocery Shop like a Kiwi
4 Apr 2014
Frankly, grocery shopping in New Zealand can be a bit daunting.
Yesterday I walked into a grocery store in Santiago, Chile and played an elaborate game of “guess what I’m thinking” in search of boxed cake mix. “It’s the parts of a cake all mixed together in a box and it feels kind of like dust.” As you can imagine, this didn’t go so well, but before long I had three friendly employees leading me on a treasure hunt around the store, giggling about the “funny gringa who wants dust in a box.” It was all quite entertaining and made me realize that, while my Spanish is generally pretty good, it’s awesome to have the I-don’t-speak-this-language excuse to fall back on every once in a while.
And that’s the problem with grocery shopping in New Zealand — you’re supposed to be able to speak the language.
If you have to ask what a courgette is…or a kumara or a sultana…. Well, you’re going to get funny looks. Imagine a native English speaker comes up to you while you’re shopping at Safeway in Denver and says, in perfect English, “excuse me, what is a raisin?” AWKWARD. You’d probably think they’re messing with you or trying to distract you while they steal the last box of on-sale granola out of your cart.
So with the intention of helping out other confused Americans traveling to New Zealand, I’ve compiled a list of necessary vocabulary for grocery store survival.
New Words for Old Things:
Kumara — Sweet Potato (actually slightly different type of sweet potato than we usually get in the states but same idea)
Capsicum — Bell Pepper
Courgette — Zucchini
Sultanas — Raisins made from green grapes (purple grapes still make raisins, go figure). Also, Sultana Bran is a thing. Whaaaaat.
Muesli — Sort of like granola, only uncooked.
Toasted Muesli — Granola
Trundler/Trolley — Shopping Cart
Close But Not Quite
Kiwifruit — Kiwi. In New Zealand a “kiwi” is a person or a bird. NOT A FRUIT.
Beetroot — Beet
New Things:
(Or rather things I had never encountered until New Zealand but probably actually exist in lots of other places too)
Feijoa — Funny green fruit, originally from Brazil and Uruguay. Tastes a bit like a kiwi(fruit).
Green gage plums — Small green plums. I’m not sure if they’re unripe plums or if they are just always green. I had never encountered these before New Zealand. They are delicious!
Chilean guavas — Basically guavas only berry-sized. Amazing.
Hokey-Pokey — Delicious honey-comb candy found in candy bars and the ubiquitous hokey-pokey ice-cream.
I’m sure I missed something. Please fill in the gaps!
This is great. It’s crazy how even though it’s the same language technically – there’s so many different things/ways to say things.
Cool! I’ve never heard of Kumara or Sultanas. Interesting names for them. They sound so exotic and then you find out what they are… When I was living in Budapest I got to know a lot of Brits and Kiwis and they always referred to things differently. Like do you what a hob is? The stovetop – my friends and I had a whole back and forth conversation of confusion before we figured it out. I can only imagine what it must be like in the grocery store.
HAH. Yeah, it can be really confusing…but always a good source of entertainment…
Interesting names for some commonly found fruits and veggies….plus a whole assortment of new ones to try! I’d love to buy all of the ones I’d never heard of and try them all out!
Eating is such an integral part of travelling. I still dont know exactly what makes a Flat White, but it is a yummy latte. Pavlova is a tasty dessert, that I have only had in NZ. Potato top meat pies, sweet as! Get some locals to invite you to a hangi for Maori style cooking, and I know its Middle Eastern, but I love the spicy flavors of the kebab shops.
I love the kebabs also! And I REALLY love the flat whites… I think pavlova is a bit too sweet for me though!
I’d heard of sultanas, though I would have just called them sultana raisins. These are good to know for when I’m in NZ! I always get such good tips from you haha.
Hope you’re enjoying Chile!!
I think you have it mostly covered although there are a few kiwi delicacies you have forgotten.
Chocolate fish- fish shapes marshmallow coated in chocolate
Gingernuts-perfect for dunking into your cup of tea.
Tree Tomatoes (Tamarillo) are worth a try too but need a lot of sugar added as quite bitter
Bluff Oysters- either fresh or deep fried in batter
PS when I was growing up in NZ Kiwifruit were called Chinese Gooseberries so maybe they still are there.
I can’t believe I forgot gingernuts! They’ve my favorite. I couldn’t get into the chocolate fish though…the first time I had one I expected it to be chocolate and then there was marshmellow in the middle. blegh.
I love traveling to countries that speak English but use different words for common items. I love that you pointed out what the differences were and kept track. Cheers!
This definitely made me laugh, I’ve been having similar problems in Northern England! It can be really confusing and frustrating at times–a bun is a bap or a teacake, a cupcake is a bun, but a teacake is not a bun, WHAT??? :) But overall it makes for some pretty hilarious conversations! Glad you made it through… at least I know there’s hope! Cheers…
Lol I don’t even know what a teacake is….Clearly I’m not prepared for Northern England!
Of course a lot of these words have English heritage, we use sultanas and trolleys in England as opposed to the US versions but there are some Kiwi newbies here that I haven’t heard of before.
It’s always great to read posts like this especially if you can remember a few of these such as the good old ‘hokey pokey’ which I don’t think you could ever guess without the translation LOL!
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