Eating and drinking - it’s an important business for many of us at this time of year as we stock up on turkey, ham,
trifle, mince pies and lots of champagne for Christmas dinner and beyond.
Take a break from all that gastronomy and visit a new on-line exhibition that looks at the history of food and drink in
New Zealand.
No Pavlova Please: Images of Food and Drink in Twentieth-Century New Zealand is the latest exhibition to be launched on
nzhistory.net.nz, a website maintained by the Heritage Group of the Department of Internal Affairs.
There’s been more to New Zealand cuisine than just pavlova. The tea break, the rise of frozen foods, seafood consumption
and dining out are all covered through text and images drawn from the photographic collection at National Archives.
Biographies of people connected with food history, such as stove manufacturer, Henry Shacklock, pioneering nutritionist
Muriel Bell, and Island Bay fisherman Giovanni Cataldo, are included.
The site also features excerpts from one of this country’s best known broadcasters, Aunt Daisy, who can be heard giving
the recipe for old favourites such as Cornflour Blancmange and Beetroot Chutney. The chutney recipe from her 1954
cookbook appears on the site, along with recipes for toheroa fritters and toheroa soup, not that many of us will get to
try those this Christmas!
No Pavlova Please can be found at www.nzhistory.net.nz
ends