Food & Drink Terms

type of pumpkin

capsicum

bell peppers

cervena

farmed venison

crayfish

a slightly sweeter and pincer-less type of lobster

eggplant

aubergine

entree

appetizer

feijoa

fleshy, tomato-sized fruit with melon-like flesh and a tangy, perfumed flavour

hogget

the meat from a year-old sheep. Older and more tasty (though less succulent) than lamb, but not as tough as mutton

hot dog

a rather disgusting-looking battered sausage on a stick, dipped in tomato ketchup. What the rest of the world knows as a hot dog is known here as an American hot dog

kiwifruit

hairy brown egg-sized fruit with a juicy green centre which swept the world in the 1980s to become the garnish of choice. The New Zealand-grown variety is now marketed as Zespri

kumara

particularly delicious type of sweet potato and a long-standing Maori staple; often served as kumara chips with sour cream

lamington

sponge cake coated in chocolate or pink icing and rolled in desiccated coconut

muttonbird

gull-sized sooty shearwater that was a major component of the pre-European Maori diet and is said to taste like oily and slightly fishy mutton - hence the name

paua

the muscular foot of the abalone, often minced and served as a fritter pavlova sickly meringue confection topped with cream and fruit that's claimed by Kiwis as adamantly as it is by Aussies

pikelets

small, thick pancakes served cold with butter and jam or whipped cream

puha

type of watercress traditionally gathered by Maori saveloy particularly revolting but popular kind of sausage served boiled

silverside

top-grade corned beef, cured in honey and often served with tangy mustard

swede

rutabaga

tamarillo

slightly bitter, deep-red fruit, often known as a tree tomato

Vegemite

a dark savoury yeast-extract spread that mystifies most people but is much loved by antipodeans, who insist it is far superior to its British equivalent, Marmite